The Burning Stone Ruins
by ClockworkScales
Summary: Katara and Toph sign up to help excavate some ruins near Ba Sing Se rumored to have been built with the help of earth benders and fire benders alike. Katara tries to figure out what her relationship with Aang should be but when she becomes a victim of mind bending, a type of blood bending, she realizes that Toph is the only one who can save her. Katara/Toph. Katoph.
1. Chapter 1: The Expedition

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR**

**tldr; Story will be rewritten in future. Feel free to read the original and reread later, or just stick around until the rewrite it out.**

After receiving some very good feedback from one particular user via PM I have decided that I will rewrite this story in the future. Once I've rewritten the bits that need rewriting I will upload the entire thing at once. Note that the first few chapters will likely stay the same.

I have never rewritten a story before like this, so please be patient. I also have a lot going on IRL at the moment, so chapters might not be up immediately and I want to do this properly. If you like, you're welcome to read the story anyway and then later re-read it when the changes are added. Note that based on what I'm thinking of changing, it might feel like a completely different story though the main elements and themes will be the same.

I hope you all continue to stick along. I really want to develop Katara and Toph's feelings correctly and I think (in my enthusiasm maybe) I may have overlooked some important aspects. Your support and patience is appreciated.

Regards,

Clockworkscales

PS: Chapter 1 is below. Also it looks like I accidentally cut off the first sentence of the fanfic so I have tried to rewrite the sentence.

* * *

'Hey Toph!' Sokka called, 'I heard they're excavating some ruins near Ba Sing Se - they're looking for earth benders!'

Toph jumped to her feet, abandoning her resting place on the floor. 'I'm _so_ there! This will be the most fun I've had in months!'

Sokka had entered the their high-class house in Ba Sing Se carrying some food from the markets. As he entered he nudged Katara's back with his foot; the woman was busy reading a history book.

'Stop sulking and go with Toph!' Sokka said. 'They might need water benders or something.'

Katara turned and glared at him. 'I'm not sulking. I'm reading.'

'Trust me, Katara. I know you, and I know when you're sulking. You don't read history books unless you're feeling pretty damn depressed.'

Katara shut the book and placed it on the table.

'Fine, I'm depressed, you happy?'

Toph walked over to Katara and put a hand on her shoulder. 'Come on, Katara. It will be fun. Besides, we'll need a healer in case something goes wrong!'

Katara seemed to fume silently for a moment before getting to her feet. She sighed, heavily. 'Okay, I'll go. But _only_ because there aren't any water benders left in Ba Sing Se at the moment.'

Toph and Sokka cheered, and Momo flew around the room. While Katara was getting her things, Sokka whispered to Toph.

'Now, try to cheer Katara up while you're gone.'

'I'll try, but I don't want to force it. She seems pretty bummed.'

'It's just because Aang's gone, I'm sure.' Sokka said. 'I mean, it's obvious. Anyway, Suki is coming to visit soon so... If you could disappear for several weeks that would be great!'

Toph rolled her eyes. 'We'll be gone as long as we need to; no more than that. If we happen to interrupt your little romance session then too bad. You have all of Ba Sing Se to mingle in, why don't you go somewhere more romantic?'

'Because romantic is expensive and I don't have a job,' Sokka said through gritted teeth.

Katara re-entered the room, eyeing the two with a raised brow.

'Oh, try looking for a job while we're gone, okay, Sokka?' Katara said. 'I mean, Toph and I will probably get paid for our work at this excavation thing so we should be able to cover this month's expenses no problem. But that doesn't mean you should stop looking for a job.'

'Yes, well,' Sokka began. 'It's easier to get jobs when you can bend, okay?'

Katara's face was meek. 'Toph, go get your things, we'll go sign up right away.'

As Toph went to her bedroom, Katara pushed the history book into her bag. Sokka crossed his arms.

'Ooh no, you're not bringing that with you.'

'Yes, I am,' Katara retorted, clipping her bag shut. 'And don't bother trying to change my mind. It's a book, I borrowed it from the library, it's my responsibility.'

'You're talking about it like it's a dog.' Sokka mumbled. Katara scowled.

When Toph came back into the room, Katara grabbed her hand and pulled her outside.

'See you later, Sokka! Good luck with the job hunting.'

Sokka watched her march down the front yard. 'Yes, and if you find some treasure be sure to keep it so we can pay next month's rent! Thank you!'

* * *

As Toph and Katara walked, they could hear Ba Sing Se's busy marketplace. Occasionally they heard arguing.

'Fire Lord Zuko is still having trouble managing the northern fire tribes.'

'Who says that kid will be able to help restore balance to the world anyway?'

'Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko are working together, it can't be that hard.'

At the sound of Aang's name, Toph sensed Katara's body stiffen, but the conversation was soon drowned out by more noise. Katara guided Toph through the crowd and to the archaeology guild at the end of the street. There was a large crowd outside, and a man ushering people in and out of the building.

'Must be a screening process of some kind. Guess we just wait our turn,' Katara said, waiting at the edge of the crowd. Toph screwed her nose up at the smell of body odor from the large man in front, but tried to ignore it.

'Katara, did something happen between you and Aang before he left?' Toph ventured to ask.

Katara sighed.

'Toph, I know you mean well but I'd rather not talk about it right now.' Katara said.

'Why?'

'Well, we're in a crowd for one. And who knows what talking about the Avatar will do?'

'Maybe we could move forward in line?' Toph suggested. Katara laughed. Toph was glad to hear her laugh; she hadn't heard her laugh for several weeks.

'If you really want to know I'll tell you once we're done here. I just need to have my thoughts to myself for awhile, if that's okay.'

Toph obliged. She didn't know how much thinking Katara had already done for the last few weeks, but it sounded like she really did need to think about it. She knew a liar when she heard one.

'That's fine - don't worry about it.'

Katara and Toph took a few steps forward as the crowd moved. Every so often a couple of people would come out, complaining.

'Those damn fire benders don't know who they're conning. We're notifying the authorities about this.'

'What?' Toph said, feeling the vibrations of their movement in her feet. 'Fire benders, here already?'

'They must be a part of the new migrant group,' Katara said. 'I mean, they've got to be friendly, right? Or they wouldn't have been able to get past the wall.'

'You'd hope so,' Toph said. 'Either way, we should be on our guard. There must be something strange about it or those men wouldn't have stormed out.'

'How many of these people do you think are being turned down, and how many are leaving out of disgust?' Katara wondered out loud. 'I mean, I can understand people being upset – it hasn't been very long since Fire Lord Zuko announced that he was going to visit each of the fire tribes and call them off – but not all of them have been complacent. And even then... The Fire Nation hasn't had the best reputation for the past 100 years.'

Toph nodded, the line moved forward a little more. They heard a few more people come out, but they were just talking about how excited they were for the excavation to begin. Apparently they left at sundown. Katara looked behind her and saw the sun setting in the distance.

Finally, Katara and Toph were allowed inside.

There was a skinny man in a green vest. A scholar of Ba Sing Se. Next to him was a bearded fellow with a wide-brim hat that obscured his eyes.

'Welcome applicants, state your names and talents.'

Katara gulped. 'My name is Katara and I am a water bender. I can heal and -'

'Katara...' The scholar began. 'Oh, I thought you looked familiar! I work at the university here, I remember seeing you and the Avatar visiting the King.'

'Do you remember me? My name is Toph. I'm blind, but I make up for it with my awesome earth bending skills.'

There was a grunt from the man in the hat.

'Blind, are you? I'm afraid we can't allow you on the expedition.'

'Hey, gimme a break!' Toph snapped. 'I can see just as well as any of you if my feet are on the ground.'

The scholar nodded. 'Yes, I do remember you, but I am not familiar with your abilities. Are you saying you can see without your eyes?'

'It's okay, she can manage.' Katara butt in. 'She is a very talented girl and is perfect for this expedition. If you're worried about what trouble she'll cause, just leave it to me. She'll be my responsibility.'

The man in the hat seemed to be considering her words.

'We could use an extra earth bender,' he mumbled. 'Consider yourselves hired. We're offering 50 gold pieces to everybody on this expedition, with bonuses being awarded depending on what people find. All food and supplies will be taken care of by the university. Please take these papers, read them, sign them, and then return them.' The man in the hat nodded to the scholar who gave them both papers to sign.

Katara read the paper, keeping an eye out for any funny loopholes.

'So this expedition is for research, run by the university?' Toph asked. The scholar nodded enthusiastically.

'It is.'

Katara eyed the page. 'So your name is Rei,' Katara eyed the scholar, 'And your name,' she nodded at the hatted man, 'Is Bulok.'

'That's correct,' Rei said. He looked out a nearby window. 'If you don't have any more questions may I ask you sign those papers and return them. We still need to recruit a couple more people and there is still a large crowd outside.'

'I just had one question,' Katara said, signing her paper and guiding Toph's hand to the right spot on the page so she could sign hers. 'Are you a fire bender?'

Rei laughed. 'I'm not a fire bender, no. Bulok is, however.'

'So what is your motivation for conducting this expedition? There isn't much information on these forms on what sort of ruins we're looking for.' Katara tried to make eye contact with Bulok but found she was unable to. 'Sorry - Ah, I don't mean to sound rude, but there were some men talking outside about you and they didn't seem very happy.'

Bulok was silent for a moment, but then he laughed. 'No offense taken. That's understandable considering our history – and present, I might add. But to answer your question, there is a lot of scholarly speculation about these ruins – this structure - being built as a collaborative project between fire benders and earth benders. Now, if that doesn't spike your curiosity I don't know what will.'

Rei smiled. 'I don't mean to be rude, I can tell you more later if you like. But we'd just like to recruit these last few people.'

'Sure,' Katara said. Katara and Toph left their papers on the table and shuffled outside. 'Talk soon!'

* * *

Katara breathed heavily as they left and reached fresh air. Toph nudged Katara with her elbow.

'What are you worried about? They seemed decent enough.' Toph queried.

'Oh, I'm just kind of tired,' Katara admitted. 'You know, you spend all your time worrying about the state of the world and what's going to happen - paranoia is just really draining. I just want all this nation vs nation conflict to be over.'

'Well, it nearly is,' Toph said. She found Katara's hand and gave it a squeeze. 'Don't worry, if we encounter any trouble we'll handle it. We could be the dynamic duo!'

Katara smiled faintly before looking up to the sky, noticing a brilliant sunset staining the skies.

'It's nearly twilight. Want to go buy something to eat?'

'You bet I do! I feel like eating rabbit-chicken,' Toph said, doing a small victory dance. 'I won't tell Sokka if you don't.'

'We'll be paid well so we can afford to spoil ourselves a little,' Katara admitted. 'Let's go.'

The water bender tugged on Toph's hand and guided her away.

* * *

Katara and Toph shared some rabbit-chicken noodles and ate outside. The marketplace was dying down for the day so they were able to have a better conversation.

'So, you wanted me to tell you about Aang, right?' Katara said, swallowing a mushroom. Toph nodded, using her fork to jam a mouthful of noodles inside. Her muffled 'yes' was enough. Katara sipped on her sweetened berrynut juice and looked at Toph. Toph ate while Katara recounted her story.

'So, I don't know if you had noticed but Aang and I were a couple for awhile.' Katara began. Toph could sense stiffness in her voice, but after a few moments she relaxed. 'It was very sudden, actually. I didn't have much time to think about my feelings before we decided to go out. I think part of it was excitement that the war was finally over, you know? Or most of it, anyway.' Katara took another sip of her drink. 'Anyway, it's not like I don't like Aang. We have been through so much together, it's hard not to feel a bond. But, I suppose a romantic relationship was a bit much to happen all at once. I thought if I left it awhile I would warm up to Aang. But he's just...'

Katara was obviously trying to pick her words carefully. 'He's just too young. I mean, _inexperienced_. We both are. I don't think either of us are ready for a relationship just yet. And to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what he expects from me.'

Toph scooped some chopped broccoli into her mouth. She swallowed.

'So did you break up with him? I mean... I knew something was going on because all of a sudden things between you two got kind of awkward. But...'

'I didn't break up with him, no,' Katara said. 'He broke up with me, before he left to help Zuko.'

Toph's mouth formed an 'o' shape. 'Huh, okay. So...'

Katara sighed again. 'I mean, it's tricky enough trying to be a girlfriend for the guy – but he's not just some random guy – it's Aang. The Avatar. I mean, what is a girlfriend of the Avatar meant to do? Should I be trying to meditate with him, or something? I guess I just didn't feel that close to him – and, it's weird because I felt closer to him before we became a couple. It's like couple status made us alienated from each other.' Katara finished off the noodles in the bowl and drank the rest of her juice. 'It's best that he dumped me. I was being a lousy girlfriend, anyway.'

Toph's eyebrows furrowed. 'Hey, don't talk like that! You're a great person and an even better friend. I mean – I don't have any experience in the romance department, but at the same time I feel like you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. Who said relationships were meant to be easy, anyway?'

Katara smiled. 'Thanks Toph. I appreciate it.' She looked up. 'Anyway, we better get to the meeting spot or they'll leave without us.'

* * *

_A/N: Hey all. I'm not 100% sure what direction this story is going to take at this point, but I hope you like it. Constructive criticism is always appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2: Uncertain Beginnings

Rei and Bulok announced to the expedition group that they would start by walking to the caves near Ba Sing Se, a few kilometers outside the outermost wall. Each group member was given a bag to carry that contained various supplies. As Katara was putting her bag on she eyed the other group members. There were only five of them.

'Out of that entire crowd you'd think the group would be larger than this,' Katara told Toph, who nodded in agreement.

They went around in a circle and everybody introduced themselves. Katara tried to remember the names of the group members, but found she forgot them all shortly after hearing them. That was one reason to hate introductions in semi-large groups - she was too busy thinking about how to introduce herself that she forgot to remember who was who. Despite that she was pleased to see a fairly even ratio of male and female benders. It seemed like she was the only water bender in the group; the rest were earth benders. Bulok was of course the only fire bender in the group, and Rei didn't have any bending skills at all.

* * *

As they took the train out of Ba Sing Se, Katara listened to a young man in their group talking to Toph.

'I knew you looked familiar - you're the Blind Bandit, aren't you?'

'I sure am! Who's asking?' Toph asked, leaning back in her seat.

'My name is Haan. I can't tell you how honored I am to meet you. I heard you taught the Avatar earth bending. I learned earth bending from the scholars at Ba Sing Se.'

'But the scholars don't bend...' Toph began.

'You'd be surprised how much they know about bending despite not being able to bend, themselves,' Haan said. 'They have a large library and there are some restricted-access ones on ancient earth bending forms.'

'Wow, seriously?' Toph said, sounded genuinely impressed. 'Who knew there was something worth reading in that library.'

Katara saw Haan blush and she rolled her eyes.

'Want me to show you a few moves?' Haan asked. Toph grinned.

'Sure! That would be awesome.'

Katara noticed Bulok was playing with an abacus in his hands. Rei was on his left, speaking to one of the female benders about the ruins – mostly speculation. Katara got to her feet and sat next to Bulok.

'So how did you hear about the ruins?' Katara asked him. Bulok's hat spun momentarily as the man turned to look at her. As always, she couldn't see his eyes. It was a little unsettling. She could see his beard, however. It looked like a newly grown beard; the hair wasn't very long.

'Scholars constantly talk to each other even if there's a war going on,' Bulok explained. 'Are you feeling suspicious of me? Don't be. I may be from the fire nation but that doesn't mean I can't be trusted.'

'It means you're worthy of our caution,' Katara began. 'While I have met some very trustworthy fire benders, not all the fire nation tribes are happy with Fire Lord Zuko taking over. Are you?'

'Considering he has helped me continue with my job, I'd say I am happy with Fire Lord Zuko,' Bulok said. Bulok suddenly paused and then took off his hat. 'See this?'

Katara was taken aback by the man's face. Half of his scalp was scar tissue. The last burn she saw on a fire bender was Zuko. This man's burn was interesting, however. It meant he grew hair on one side of his head, and none on the other. Katara was also surprised at his age. He was hardly in his mid twenties. The beard and hat combination definitely obscured that.

Bulok eyed Katara's face and smiled. 'Fire bending is not my strong point so when I tried to escape my town some years ago I wasn't able to defend myself. I was punished for trying to escape my town. They called me a traitor. The fire nation isn't terribly fond of its scholars. They think if a scholar isn't employed by the military they shouldn't be employed at all. Bit of a mess, really.'

Katara bowed her head. 'Bulok, I'm sorry for misjudging you.'

'You're not the first,' Bulok admitted, raising a hand and pointing to Rei beside him wrapped in conversation. 'They all come through in the end, though. Injustice never lasts too long.'

Katara smiled. She decided that she kind of liked this Bulok fellow. Sure, half his scalp was burned and scarred and generally looked terrible, but his eyes were gentle and keen. She could tell he had a good heart now that she could see his eyes.

'So Katara -' Bulok began, but suddenly something else caught his attention. Toph was pushing Haan away from her, squirming out of her seat.

'Get off!' Toph yelled, and she raised her feet and kicked Haan in the stomach. He lost his breath and fell against the floor with a thump. Bulok pushed his shoe onto Haan's head.

'Haan, she's too young for you.'

Haan blushed. 'Sorry.'

He was quiet for the rest of the trip.

* * *

They set up camp in the mouth of a cave. It had been obscured with dense bushes and branches so they spent a good half hour pulling them apart and out of the way with the help of some knives that Bulok had brought along. Bulok then used fire bending to light a fire with the left over sticks in the cave. They ate badger snake jerky and drank lychee juice. Toph decided to sit next to Katara for awhile, while Katara decided to become acquainted with one of the female earth benders.

'So have you lived in Ba Sing Se your whole life?' Katara asked her.

The woman was in her late thirties and had thick black hair. Her name was Em.

'Mostly. For the last few years I have been working in a restaurant, but I used to do mining before that.'

'How does one go from mining to working in a restaurant?' Katara queried.

'Sometimes you just need a career change.' Em said simply.

Toph tugged on Katara's arm. Katara turned. 'What?'

'This is kinda boring. Do you want to go exploring in the caves?'

'It's too late and we're doing that tomorrow anyway,' Katara said. 'Why? Feel anything special in there?'

'Not really - which is why I want a closer look. Maybe the ruins are deeper than I can feel.' Toph explained.

'Why don't you go rest in your tent?' Katara asked. 'Or you could try being a little more sociable. We will be working with these people, you know, so you might want to try to get to know them better.'

'Yeah,' Toph mumbled. 'I'll leave that to you. Feeling pretty sleepy.'

'Then go to bed,' Katara said. 'I'm not stopping you.'

'Then I will!' Toph said, getting to her feet and making an earth hut nearby.

'Sorry Em,' Katara returned to her conversation with the woman. 'So why did you want that career change again?'

* * *

Toph dragged Katara's bag over to her tent. In a moment of curiosity she decided to see if she could feel something on the history book she had brought. With some investigating, she confirmed that there was an earth nation emblem on the side of the book – a library custom, no doubt. It was also very heavy and the papers felt very thin. What was she reading, a dictionary? Toph didn't know of any books this big, not that she ever got cosy with them.

She heard Katara appear at the tent opening..

'What are you doing with that?'

'Don't fret, it's not like I can read it,' Toph began. 'I just wanted to see if I could figure out what it was. Is it a dictionary of every history related word ever written?'

'No,' Katara said stiffly. She sighed. 'Look, Toph, I feel very tired. Do you mind if we just get some sleep?'

'I thought you weren't tired.'

'Well, I decided I was. So do you mind moving over a little bit so I can sleep next to you?'

'Okay, but only if you don't snore.'

'I don't think I do,' Katara said.

They readied their sleeping bags and snuggled inside them. Katara stared at the earth tent ceiling with uncertainty. She took a few minutes to calm down, to try to feel less irritable. She imagined Toph might be doing the same. Soon it was just their steady breathing and the muffled noise and fire crackling from outside the tent. Katara dared to make conversation.

'What was that Haan guy doing with you earlier, anyway?'

Toph snorted. 'He wanted to show me some of his earth bending moves, but he didn't tell me one of them was the ancient form of jerk bending.'

Katara chuckled. 'Very funny, Toph. But seriously, how old is that guy, anyway?'

'He's eighteen, he told me. Really, we're the youngest in the group,' Toph said.

'Did he try to kiss you or something like that?'

Toph coughed loudly, possibly to hide her discomfort.

'I think he tried to, I didn't really let him get close enough to find out. I thought that guy was kind of cool, but he turned out being a jerk. He likes the Blind Bandit, not me. He didn't even ask that much about me in the first place. Like he assumed he knew who I was.'

'Well, I'm sure you'll find a nice guy some day. They're not all bad, you know.'

'I dunno, Aang seemed a bit weird at times.'

'Toph!'

'What? He's the Avatar, he's like the King of Weird by birthright.'

Katara laughed.

'It's good to hear you laugh again. No offense, but you've been a real drag lately. Is this really just about Aang?' Toph asked.

Katara shook her head, Toph could feel her hair brushing her neck. They stared at the tent ceiling.

'No. It's me, mainly. I just don't understand what happened with me and Aang back there. It just bothers me. Does it mean there's something wrong with me?'

Toph considered this question carefully. 'I don't think so. Maybe it just means you guys were rushing into things.' Toph considered again. 'Or maybe you're over thinking things. Maybe you're taking things too seriously.' Toph considered something else. 'Or maybe you and Aang were not meant to be together.'

'Toph...' Katara sounded weary. 'Do you really think we're not meant to be together?'

'I don't know, I'm just throwing out suggestions,' Toph began. 'I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this sort of thing.'

'It's okay, we're both new at romantic relationships. I don't expect you to be an expert.'

They were silent for a moment.

'Katara, do you think I'll ever find someone who likes me and not just the Blind Bandit?' Toph asked, her voice faint. 'I mean, this might sound weird but I really liked Sokka for awhile but then he liked Suki instead. And I even kinda liked Zuko, but he didn't seem interested in me. It's just because I'm a kid, isn't it? Or is it because I'm blind? I thought other people would have gotten over that by now.'

Katara didn't seem bothered by the confession. 'That happens, Toph, no matter how old you are. It's not abnormal. It just takes awhile to figure out what you like, you know? And not everybody likes the same thing. Do you know what I mean?'

Toph shook her head. Katara sighed.

'I'm not sure I'm even the best person to give you advice right now, Toph. I'm sorry.' Katara said.

Toph shrugged. 'It's nothing, don't worry. It's not like I think about this sort of thing a lot, it's just that Haan guy kinda bugged me.' Toph rolled over onto her side. 'It's been nice chatting with you and all, but I'd like to get some shut-eye now. I'm looking forward to checking out those ruins tomorrow.'

Katara smiled, and nodded.

'Me too. Goodnight, Toph.'


	3. Chapter 3: The Crystal Cave

'Toph!' Katara screamed, 'Stop! Don't run ahead like that!'

Toph's feet could be heard slapping against the smooth stone ahead. She swiftly vanished out of sight, her black head bobbing away.

'It's fine, I swear!' Toph called back. Her voice echoed around Katara. Suddenly, Katara felt her legs aching under her weight and she stopped. She panted, clutching the centre of her chest.

'Toph! Come back!' Katara yelled.

Her throat hurt, it was hoarse. Her body was starting to ache all over.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

'You were right, you really can't handle any relationships,' Aang said. 'Look at you, you can't even take care of Toph. Well, how are you meant to take care of me if you can't do something simple like that? Toph and I are almost the same age.'

Katara glared at the bald-headed boy, trying to keep her breathing steady.

'I've been trying hard to figure this out. And you're not even _trying_ to help!'

'This isn't something I can help you with, Katara.' Aang said. 'Maybe you should try a different approach.'

Katara watched Aang for a few seconds before bending water out of her water-bag. She shaped it into a board and climbed on top of it, making sure her feet were secure. Using a water whip she propelled herself forward, skidding across the rock and pushing herself forward into the darkness – deeper into the cave.

Once the darkness had completely surrounded her, she felt the ground disappear underneath her. She fell down an endless pit and screamed...

* * *

Katara woke in her sleeping bag. The dying embers from the fire lit the mouth of the cave. She noted that Toph was still in her bed, snoozing soundly. She sighed, and crawled out of the tent.

That dream couldn't possibly be literal, could it? Katara wondered.

She pulled her sleeping bag out of the earth tent and rolled it up. She placed it in her bag before slinging the bag over her shoulder. The silence of the cave was smothering. She took a large stick from the fire and pulled it out. She blew on it so the fire was kindled. It burst alight with a flicker and she held it out in front of her. Katara turned to the back end of the cave and walked towards it. After a few turns she noticed the cave started to spiral downwards.

Maybe Aang and Toph are right, maybe my approach is wrong. Katara mused. Maybe I _am_ over thinking this.

She eyed the spiraling end of the cave once again.

I will wander a little way down before coming back. Katara decided. Maybe it will clear my head. It can't be that dangerous if nothing has come up to attack us.

Walking down the cave path made Katara acutely aware of how well carved out it was. Normally caves like this had sharp edges, but this one was completely smooth and circular.

Maybe there are badger moles in here? Katara wondered. Or maybe a giant worm?

She walked for about 100 meters before she came to a dead end. She held the fire up to it and even tried tapping the rock, but a heavy sound emanated from it. It definitely wasn't hollow.

I guess they don't call it an excavation mission for nothing! Katara thought. But once she turned around she noticed something strange. She saw herself; a mirror image of herself standing in front of her and tapping the stone.

'What is this, time travel?' Katara asked, out loud this time. She raised a brow at the other Katara as it mimicked her motions exactly. She tried to stay out of the way of the creature in case it was a living thing, but the other Katara positioned itself in a different position to her and grinned broadly at her.

Katara turned back toward the tunnel and ran back as fast as she could. She heard the other Katara following close behind - she quickened her pace

Maybe it's the fumes from this flame? Katara thought, her heart racing. Maybe I'm still half asleep?

She finally reached the opening of the cave and she threw her stick back into the fire. It crackled and died. Katara turned, but was relieved to see nobody behind her. Putting her bag down, she unrolled her sleeping back and slipped inside, resting in front of the warm fire. She tried to calm her breathing. She heard some footsteps and noted a figure sit next to her.

'Stay away from me!' Katara said, falling over in her bag and crawling away.

'Hey, it's just me,' the voice said.

Katara rolled around like a caterpillar that forgot to eat a leaf. She narrowed her eyes. To her relief it was Rei, the scholar.

'What were you doing wandering down the cave? You know that's dangerous,' Rei said. 'What if something had happened to you?'

Katara was serious. 'I'm sorry. Honestly.' She eyed Rei again. There were bags under his eyes. Katara dared to mention the thing she saw. 'I saw... This might sound weird but I thought I saw myself down there.'

Rei eyed Katara wearily. 'I assure you, that is probably just nerves. The strangest of shapes can pop out at us in the dark, particularly when we're frightened.'

'It didn't feel like nerves,' Katara retorted, feeling patronised by the suggestion. 'You weren't there. And I've been in caves before and I assure you I never started seeing things that weren't there.'

'Were you with friends when you were in those caves?' Rei queried. 'Good company soothes the nerves.'

'Enough talk about nerves,' Katara snapped. She caught herself. 'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'See?' Rei repeated. 'Nerves.'

Katara let out a nervous laugh. 'I suppose it might be nerves.'

Rei and Katara sat in front of the fire for awhile. Rei prodded the fire with an extra stick. Rei turned to Katara.

'I know you probably don't want my advice, but it's important you try to stay calm. Those nerves could prevent you from using your water bending.'

Katara suddenly remembered the time Zuko had lost his fire bending temporarily because he had lost his rage. If water bending was broken by erratic feelings then she was certainly on the right track. She made a personal vow to herself not to lose her cool like that again, for the sake of her bending. It was such an important part of her identity it was hard to imagine it gone. And if it did, what would that say about her? It wasn't like her.

'You're right, Rei. I'll be more careful next time, I promise.'

'Good,' Rei said, simply.

Katara eyed the fellow. 'Sorry, I don't mean to pry, but do you have a partner back home?'

Rei chortled. 'I'm afraid not. Scholars like me rarely have the time or interest to mingle with the opposite sex.'

'But there have to be some female scholars, right?'

Rei's ears went red. He didn't seem bashful about hiding it though. 'There are a few. At any rate, I don't feel like it's up to you to keep track of my love life.'

'Of course. Sorry,' Katara said. 'I was just curious.'

'Mm, it's okay.' Rei mumbled.

Katara napped until she was woken up by Bulok.

* * *

When the group ventured down to the bottom of the tiny cave later that morning, Toph stamped her feet angrily.

'I don't know why we're wasting our time here. There's nothing in there! Are you sure we're in the right cave?'

'I'm positive we're in the correct position,' Rei said. 'It's just a matter of getting deep enough.' Rei cleared his throat and raised his voice. 'Earth benders! We need to descend ten kilometers.'

Katara watched the group huddle together and Toph and the other benders worked together to pull them downwards, displacing the earth from the cave below to the space above them. It was like they were traveling in an air bubble. Katara didn't see the other Katara anywhere so she considered herself safe. That is, until she started to see hardened lava creep up the sides of their makeshift elevator. She smelt brimstone and screwed her nose up unhappily. But steadily, that hardened lava turned to a different consistency. You didn't need to be an earth bender to see that; it was becoming more and more crystallized. Huge quartz crystals could be seen in clumps.

After ten minutes of traveling downwards, they had a quick break.

'I'm getting dizzy,' Toph admitted, falling down against the earth, the mere flames from Bulok's hand able to light their way. 'Any plans for getting oxygen in here? You know, the stuff we need to stay alive?'

Rei nodded, and pointed in what would be the westward direction. 'There is a pocket of air 100 meters that way.'

'So you're just kind of hoping the air in this earth-fire place is breathable?' Haan raised his voice. 'I thought this trip was planned better than that.'

'The story is that this place was buried by earth benders a long time ago in order to avoid the eruption of a volcano,' Rei said. 'There is good reason to think that there is breathable oxygen in there.'

'But there's still a chance there isn't any?' Haan asked, before throwing up his hands. 'Damn it, I'm not waiting around for more oxygen, if we need to know if that place is breathable it's better to do so sooner than later, right?'

Rei nodded. Suddenly, Haan gathered all the earth benders together, though Toph stayed close to Katara. They worked together and pulled the group down the last five kilometers after opening the air pocket. Then, Toph exclaimed that she could feel something 20 meters down so they went that extra bit further.

'Here goes nothing,' Toph exclaimed, and she pushed the earth wall out of the way revealing a giant grotto extending for hundreds of meters. The walls were covered with quartz crystals and the floor was completely covered in water. What little could be seen with the flame from Bulok was simply breathtaking. It was like they had stumbled upon a crystal cave.

Katara cheered at the sight of water but was quickly interrupted. As she walked off their earth platform into the icy expanse, a large red tentacle wrapped around her ankle and tugged her under the water. She made an air bubble around her head but was not able to see anything for the life of her. She tried to attack the tentacle with ice shards but it wouldn't budge. She tried to tease the tentacle off her ankle with her hands but it proved futile. Was she going to become the creature's lunch? There was only one thing she could conceivably do. She water bended the water above her out of the way and froze it, creating a frozen tunnel that followed her all the way to the creature's den. She only hoped the others would find her in time.


	4. Chapter 4: Mind Bending

Katara was dumped onto a crystal platform in the cave, and her head got knocked against the crystal floor. Her head rumbled and she saw stars in her eyes. She felt the tentacle loosen its grip and she peered around. A crystal filled with fire flies lit the small room well.

She saw red tentacle arms extending from the body of a human being. Before her was a man, or she assumed it was a man- the hips were not very well pronounced. This man wore a giant red squid's head over his own like a helmet. The rest of his body was covered with polar-dog fur. The man raised the tentacle and caressed Katara's cheek. Katara was reminded of the swamp benders and their ability to manipulate vines.

Suddenly, the path that Katara had made was sealed off with ice. Anything resembling the voices of her companions following the narrow ice path was immediately silenced.

'You're a water bender?' Katara said, getting to her feet and holding a water bending pose, her hands raised in front of her chest. 'What do you want from me?'

Suddenly, Katara felt her body stab with pain as her limbs were contorted. Her arms were moved to wrap around her waist like a straight jacket. Then, she did a pirouette. Then she sat on the crystal floor in front of the man and saw a vision of herself standing next to the man. The other Katara grinned broadly and kneeled near the woman, petting her head.

'Surprised, aren't you? I have mastered blood bending beyond one's normal capabilities,' the other-Katara said. Katara then realized: the vision she had in the cave earlier was no coincidence. The other Katara continued speaking and crossed her arms across her tribal gear. 'I have extended my life by slowing my metabolism. I even know how to bend the water in one's brain - it's how I am able to communicate with you with visions. I call it _mind bending_.'

Katara tried to resist the binds holding her arms steady but found her arms weaken under the bending grip. The other Katara did not seem aggressive, though Katara sensed malicious intent. She eyed the squid man, listening for footsteps behind the ice wall, or yelling. The other Katara sat in front of her and smiled broadly.

'I was called into the city of Utaw when word had it that a volcano was going to erupt. I promised that I would help the benders by covering the city in water, but when the moment finally came to do so, the amount of water that evaporated from the lava was too much and quickly realized that I had underestimated the amount I needed. I had to retrieve another water source. So I pulled it out of the townsfolk.' The other Katara said. Katara tried to speak, but found her mouth was tightly shut.

She suddenly heard a splash on the other side of the ice. The other Katara got to her feet. 'I thought it was a necessary sacrifice or the entire city, myself included, would have died in the eruption. But the price to pay for blood bending was too great. They imprisoned me and destroyed my sight and cut out my tongue. I had no hope of leaving until now...' The other Katara eyed the real Katara with envy. 'The only thing I want is to live a normal life. But...I'm afraid I'm going to need your help to do that.'

The other Katara disappeared. Suddenly, there was a bang on the other side of the ice wall. Katara heard Toph yelling through the ice.

'Katara! Are you there! Are you okay?'

Katara felt her body being manipulated. She was trapped in her own body, her own mind. She felt her voice speaking. She had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth.

'I'm fine, Toph, don't worry!'

Katara got to her feet and bended the ice wall away.

'I'm sorry about that, I wanted to make sure this man was safe before I let you guys through.'

Toph, Haan, Rei, and Bulok pushed through the hole. Katara even saw Em and the others's heads poking from behind.

Toph ran towards the squid man and started yelling at him. 'Who do you think you are? Don't you think it's a little rude to just drag people into your little hide-out whenever you want?'

'Toph, calm down!' Katara heard herself say, even though she had no control over the words. And yet, none of her mental conflict showed on her face - this squid person was _really_ good. Just how long had he practiced? She felt memories being pushed and shoved around her own mind, here and there a random thought came to the surface. Katara spoke again.

'Toph, this man sensed there was another water bender around and pulled me in to attract my attention. It turns out he was imprisoned here some time ago. And he wants to start a new life. Who are we to deny him that opportunity?'

Bulok walked towards the red-squid helmet the man was wearing and prodded it. He screwed his nose up at the smell and readjusted his hat. 'How can we trust this guy? Well, enigmatic sea monster? What's your name?'

'His tongue was cut out years ago,' Katara explained. 'The earth and fire benders cut it out when he suggested they help them survive the volcano eruption all those years ago. Their pride was hurt, they didn't want his help. That said, he said he would like to be called Squid.'

Rei frowned. 'I don't remember reading about any water bender in the story, let alone a... _Squid_.'

Katara sighed. 'I know I have no right to ask you to help this man, but look at him! If his story is true, I think we ought to give him a chance. Who knows, he might be able to help us?'

'How do you know all this if he can't speak?' Rei suddenly asked.

Katara laughed. The real Katara was amazed at how well this squid man was mimicking her. Was a look inside her head all it took? How could he even use blood bending without the full moon? It made no sense. There was something missing in the story, and she wanted to know what it was. Unfortunately, she would need her body for that.

'He told me his story with water bending,' Katara said. 'He used the water to make a message on my palm.'

Rei eyed the squid man, precariously. 'Okay, Katara. Since it was your idea you can take care of him. Given you're both water benders I trust you'll have the best idea as to his needs. And it seems like he'll be more trusting of you, at any rate, given you are also a water bender.'

Katara nodded. She bent the water from the lake into the shape of a board. With some more bending she gently placed the squid man onto the board and secured him there. With bending she would move him along that way. The squid man then moved his tentacled arm and a ball of water covered Katara's hand. With it, he wrote messages on the girl's palm, or at least made it look like he was.

The real Katara couldn't help but wonder... Will she ever have her body back again? She felt completely disconnected from her body, as if she was a third person looking upon it. The longer it happened, the more she felt as if she was phasing out of reality.

* * *

Toph was relieved to feel that Katara was okay. Occasionally she noticed Katara moved in a way that wasn't quite like her but figured she must have injured her ankle on the way down. As the group walked up the ice passageway, Katara occasionally relayed messages from Squid. Toph wished this Squid person would stand on the ground properly, she felt that this person wasn't all they were cracked up to be, but there was such a thick layer of ice at the bottom of that person's shoes that it was hard to tell.

'Squid says he would like something to eat.' Katara said, as they walked along.

Bulok nodded at Haan and the man reached in his bag and pulled out some berry-jerky. The earth bender held out the food in front of Squid lamely. Then Haan caught on and put it on the red-tentacle. The tentacle then slithered under the squid head.

'Why do you wear that weird get-up?' Haan asked. 'Doesn't it smell in there?'

'He likes to wear it because it's warm. The squid is a spirit animal to him.'

'Okay,' Toph said, rolling her eyes. 'So how do we get to this fancy earth-fire bender city anyway?'

'It is called Utaw, apparently,' Katara said.

'We refer to it as the Burning Stone Ruins,' Rei said, Bulok nodding in his wake. 'I'm guessing it refers to the volcano.'

But before the conversation could continue, Katara suddenly collapsed. The girl's face hit the ice with a loud smack. Toph rushed to her side.

'I can't tell if she's okay or not...' Toph said. 'Can we get off this ice soon, please!?'

But Bulok was already feeling her pulse. He sighed.

'It looks like she's out cold. Haan, Em, carry her for me,' Bulok said, rekindling the flame in his hand, even though the fire fly crystal was being carried behind Squid. As they walked, there was another splash as Bulok's foot fell through the floor and hit water. The hole was quickly frozen over by Squid. 'And we better hurry, or this ice is going to sink underneath us.'

* * *

They rest at their earth-bent enclosure at the very entrance of the crystal cave while Bulok heated some water and threw some herbs into the mix. He dabbed the mixture onto Katara's forehead. It reeked of rosemary.

'It'll help wake her up,' Bulok explained to Toph, who hadn't left Katara's side since she fell. The others were all eating, and Rei was making conversation with Squid who was trying to communicate with him via water bending. It didn't seem to be working very well, as Rei's senses just weren't very attuned to it. Toph sighed and fumbled for Katara's hand. Upon finding her arm she ran her hand down it until she reached her palm. The earth bender squeezed it.

'What do you think is wrong with her?' Toph said. 'She's not going to die, is she? She's been asleep for half an hour!'

Bulok frowned. 'It looks like she knocked her head on the way down,' the man said, taking Toph's hand and guiding it to Katara's head where a bump had formed. Toph felt it. It was definitely ugly.

'If she was awake she would be able to heal herself,' Toph lamented. Then, she got to her feet and walked over to the spot where the icy mass was sitting. 'You! Squid man! You know water bending, can you heal Katara for us?'

As if in a moment of inspiration, one of the tentacles moved and a chip of ice came off the man's seat. It melted and formed a sentence in the earth. Toph was unable to read it, but Bulok read it out loud for her.

'He says he doesn't know how to heal,' Bulok said. 'I suppose we just need to wait for her to wake up. It shouldn't be much longer.'

'I've heard if somebody stays asleep for longer than 30 minutes that it means their brain has been damaged,' Toph said, panic rising in her voice. 'If anything happens to her I'll never forgive myself. I was the one who tried to get her to come in the first place. What would Sokka say? What would Aang say? And Momo?'

She walked back over to Katara and held her hand. Bulok tried to pat her back but Toph brushed his hand aside. The smell of rosemary wafted into the air. Minutes passed, and Toph waited. After a few more minutes, Katara woke up.

* * *

Katara felt control over her body for a split second. In her moment of freedom she latched onto Toph and shook her. 'Toph, he's -'

But before she could continue, Katara lost control over her body again. Squid-man was controlling her again.

'You're okay!' Toph cried, and gave Katara a hug so great that her stomach was squished against Toph's head. Even if Katara didn't have control over her body, Toph's hug made her feel like none of this weird possession voodoo was happening. When Toph pulled away from Katara she pressed a finger into her forehead. 'You might wanna get rid of that bump.'

Katara healed the bump in a matter of seconds while people gathered around her to make sure she was okay.

'I do remember bumping my head, yeah,' Katara murmured. 'I'm sorry to have worried you guys. But...' She turned to Bulok. 'Thank you for taking care of me. No one else could have heated the water.'

Toph pouted and grabbed Katara's hand. 'I helped too! I was the moral support!'

Katara nodded and gave Toph a hug. 'I know you did. Thank you for looking out for me, Toph.'

Rei got to his feet. 'Give Katara some food and water and then we'll be on our way!'

* * *

_A/N: I know this story doesn't have many followers at the moment, I think pacing is probably a problem. But hopefully things are starting to pick up at this point. I will change the summary to reflect this change._


	5. Chapter 5: Lava Bending

Toph had roamed caves her entire life but never before had she trodden across a crystal cave. In some ways this effected her sight. Instead of the usual heaviness of the earth, she felt an uneven structure with jagged edges and indecisive corners. Toph knew the earth was structured, but this was a different kind of structure. The crystal was secured with hardened lava to the point where the quartz ached like it threatened to break like old wooden floor boards.

As much as she didn't want to, she found herself sitting on the back of Squid's ice carrier as they moved across the expanse of water on an ice path Katara made. Not only could Toph save her energy that way but she didn't have to feel the numbing cold of ice against her feet any longer. She had enough of that in the tunnels. She felt minor vibrations in the ice platform that was being used to transport Squid and wondered for a moment if Squid was moving. She attributed it to the steady stream of water Katara was bending underneath them like a conveyor belt. Toph's feet were dangling over the edge of the platform and the water stream massaged her feet.

'Toph,' Katara called back, 'Squid is blind, like you. Don't you think you should try being a little more hospitable?'

'No more than anybody else,' Toph said, plainly. Then, she raised her voice. 'So Squid man, can you see with your bending like I can?'

'He says he can,' Katara said after a moment. 'Though it isn't as useful for navigating around like earth bending is. It's good for localizing people, apparently.'

'Does that mean you can tell us if anybody is about to sneak up on us?' Toph asked. 'That'd be handy.'

Rei chipped. 'So Squid, tell me more about Utaw. Do you know anything about the supposed earth-fire bending forms they created?'

Toph was curious. 'Do you mean earth benders can learn to bend fire, and fire benders can learn earth bending?'

Rei shook his head. 'In the documents that were in possession by the Ba Sing Se library apparently the benders worked together to manipulate lava.'

'Wait,' Toph said. 'So Squid tried to help these lava-benders get rid of lava, even though they were perfectly capable of doing it themselves? No wonder they chopped his tongue off.'

'Toph, that's cruel,' Bulok said. Toph shrugged.

Katara interrupted the conversation. 'Actually, the amount of lava expelled from a volcano at any one time can be immense. With the number of benders who actually lived in Utaw they wouldn't be able to handle an eruption easily on their own. What they did best was manipulate the magma within a dormant volcano. It was used for making crystals.'

Rei nodded fervently.

Suddenly, the group came to a stop.

'Okay, Toph, we're on ground now,' Katara said.

Haan started to talk with Rei about the lava bending, and Bulok joined in. Toph climbed off the ice-board and her feet met crystal ground. Toph could sense Katara moving her weight from one foot to the other. Since when did she start doing that? Did she have to go pee or something?

'We could become rich,' Haan began. 'I mean, imagine, Bulok... We could sell the crystals we made.'

A muffled laugh came from the Squid man. And then Toph got the distinct impression that this Squid person was in fact a woman. Since she was blind she had a very good sense of recognizing sex on the basis of voice. To the non-blind the voice would have been hard to distinguish, but Toph was positive that the voice was female. The earth bender decided not to make a scene. She would tell Katara about it later.

Katara spoke up as they walked.

'It's a very dangerous bending discipline,' Katara explained, transmitting Squid's message. 'And there is a limit to the types of crystal you can make – some crystals take hundreds to thousands of years to form.'

Haan didn't seem bothered by the threat of lava, however. Toph tried to ignore him, but his arrogance grated her ears.

'Get some business sense, why don't you?' Haan was saying.

Toph instead tried to focus on where they were going. The tunnel seemed to get very sharp suddenly at approximately 100 meters. It felt like stairs that went downward several hundred.

'Did they make their entire city out of crystal?' Toph asked. There was a pause while Katara got the message from Squid.

'Sure did,' Katara replied.

Toph crossed her arms and walked past the ice board to walk alongside Katara.

'So Katara, are you looking forward to seeing the city?' she asked. 'It seems pretty cool, huh? The whole thing made of crystal?'

'Sorry, Toph, I'm a little busy right now,' Katara said, brushing her aside. 'Squid won't stop sending me messages.'

Finally they reached the stairs and started to descend. It put considerable strain on Katara who had to carefully bend the platform down. Apparently deciding she wanted a break, she ended up jumping on the board and skidded down the steps with a loud scraping noise.

'See you guys at the bottom!' she called back.

Toph tried to jump onto the side of the ice platform before it went down so she could enjoy the ride as well, but all she managed to do was scrape the palm of her hand against the ice. Toph scowled and walked on her own once the sound became faint, not particularly feeling like mingling with anyone. There was a fat man walking behind her whose name she didn't know - she was mildly amused by the minor changes in the weight on his feet as he moved, it was suggestive of fat rolls jiggling around.

Toph tried to block out the sound of Haan and Bulok's conversation about ancient bending forms and was mildly successful. Ancient bending forms, Toph mused, stretching her arms back. Did he even know any?

The steps were very hard and well formed. She wasn't sure if the others had noticed – it might not have been visually obvious - but the crystal made up a lot more of the stairs than the hardened lava at this point.

It was ten minutes until they got to the bottom of the stairs, and Toph ran to Katara, feeling a new structure in the ground before them.

'Katara, I can feel the beginning of a city!'

Rei clapped his hands together enthusiastically and rushed ahead. The other benders hurried along, leaving Katara, Squid and Toph behind. Katara didn't seem to share Toph's enthusiasm.

'Don't you want a break from this guy?' Toph asked instead. 'He's a water bender, I'm sure he can move his own platform along if he really wants to.'

'Maybe so,' Katara began. 'But he can't see, Toph. That's the thing. He needs my help.'

'Well, park him in a corner somewhere and then come back later – it's not that big a deal.'

'Toph, he's my responsibility. I can't just leave him in a corner somewhere like a dog.'

'Bah,' Toph said. 'You're no fun. I learned to move around independently, maybe he should try it sometime.'

Toph could feel Katara's heart beat faster, but ignored it. She was about to leave to go ahead with the others, when she turned back towards Katara.

'I get that you're playing baby-sitter, but don't you think you should try to have a break once in awhile? All that bending must be tiring, and we might need you if somebody gets hurt.'

'I'm fine, okay?' Katara said. 'Just leave me be.'

'Okay Miss Grumpy Pants,' Toph said. Toph stamped her feet onto the ground. She tried to bend the crystal out of the floor but it shattered in front of her. 'Ugh!'

'Maybe you would be able to bend better if you didn't lose your cool,' Katara teased.

Toph grit her teeth together and slammed her hands onto the floor. With a rumbling sound a lattice of crystal shot into the air before snapping around Katara's wrist and Squid's polar-dog fur covered ankle. It was a stiff crystal chain.

'There, much better,' Toph exclaimed, raising her arms out as if to present a work of art. 'Ladies and gentlemen the great Katara and her seafood friend! We're so excited to bring you this exhibit that it is completely free! That's right, folks, you heard correctly! _Free!_'

To Toph's surprise, Katara did something unexpected. She took a deep breath and... _relaxed_. Toph felt the tension drop out of her body and into the floor like an anchor. She never knew Katara to calm herself like that. She was expecting some sort of retort. Normally they would fight until one of them stormed off.

'Well, I won't sit around arguing with you. Why don't you run off and find some fancy things we can bring back to the surface with us? We still have to pay this month's rent, remember?' Katara said.

Toph didn't even bother responding. She ran out of the crystal stairway and into the great expanse that was the lost crystal city of Utaw. All the while she couldn't help thinking: _What the heck happened to Katara?_


	6. Chapter 6: Skeletons in the Closet

Needless to say, the crystal city eerily huge and made completely of quartz. It was amazing that nobody had gone down there for so long, but according to Rei there were earth bending regulations established by the government to prevent earth benders from digging up just whatever they liked – at risk that they might break something important.

According to Rei the caves near Ba Sing Se were strictly regulated. Apparently it took a lot of official-badgering for him to get formal approval.

'So we can't just bring this place to the surface then?' Toph asked, pretty keen to have gotten away from Katara for now.

'I'm afraid not,' Rei replied. 'It has to be preserved. And drawing its attention to outsiders will do anything but preserve it. Those forms you signed had a confidentiality agreement, remember?'

'Uh, sure it did,' Toph said.

Suddenly Bulok addressed the group. Toph felt Katara and the ice platform slide towards them. 'Everybody split up. Try not to break anything, but bring back what you find.'

Rei was keen to get straight into it so he rushed ahead after grabbing a torch from Bulok. Toph felt meek as the sensation of heat brushed past her face. Toph decided to wander off on her own.

She walked down an alleyway that hadn't yet been occupied by one of the group members. The walls on either side of her extended into spires that scraped the ceiling of the underground cave but on the spires was an interesting pattern. It just seemed like mindless swirls but it was pleasing to sense. She sensed rooms on either side of the walls. She ran her hands along them as she walked, feeling their smoothness. Those lava benders were certainly impressive at what they did. She came to an archway and entered.

As she walked she felt papers at her feet and gingerly picked them up, stuffing them into her belt. She felt a large vase, again made of quartz, in the corner of the room, and in the vase was what felt like a skeleton.

Toph approached, wondering what on earth a skeleton was doing in the vase. Just why would somebody die in a vase? Unless it was used to store a loved one's remains. She felt the mouth of the vase which had a jagged rim and then bent over to touch the bones inside, stretching her fingertips as much as she could.

Hopefully I'm not breaking some kind of dead-people's law, Toph thought, feeling the skull with the tips of her fingers, trying not to fall into the vase. The skull felt cold, but there didn't seem to be anything special about it.

Not everybody died down here when the volcano erupted, Toph thought. So where are the people? A chill shuddered down her spine as she thought about it and came to a realization... maybe Squid _ate_ them?

She scrambled out of the vase, leaving the skull alone. Or maybe, she thought, they simply escaped with their powers. How else would Ba Sing Se know about them? It was hard to settle on one answer, but maybe the true answer was a mixture of both.

She felt around the rest of the room, noting a filing cabinet with no files left in it (maybe the files were what she picked up?) and a bed. The blanket was made of cotton, nothing to get excited about. Curiously, she felt a dip in the wall next to the filing cabinet and pressed her finger into it. As she moved her finger back and forth she felt some movement in the wall. She noticed that there were extremely small gaps in the wall, and stood back. With a kick the door spun open like a revolving door. She screamed as several skeletons fell out of the wall and landed on top of her.

'Gross!' she said, letting them fall to the ground with a smash. The earth bender kicked them out of the way. Stupid skeletons falling on her like they had nothing better to do.

She walked through the door and into the narrow passageway. The passage lead to the hollow area on the inside of the spire walls. She could feel wardrobe items hitting her head as she walked through. She noted that they basic earth bender gear, based off their design. And then she felt more bones under her feet. They turned to dust and got stuck in between her toes.

'Yep,' she said. 'This place is definitely creepy.'

She tread out of the room and bumped into somebody, not noticing that they had even followed her in. With a sigh of relief, she realized it was Katara.

'Katara!' Toph whispered. 'There are-'

But Katara put a hand over Toph's mouth. 'Don't speak so loudly, I ditched Squid man behind me.'

Toph paused. 'You feeling okay? Ten minutes ago you loved the guy.'

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Katara said. 'I wanted to apologize, Toph. I've been so focused on keeping Squid man comfortable that I forgot about you. You're my friend, after all, and friends stick together, right?'

Toph grinned and punched Katara in the arm. 'Yep! Wait-'

Toph felt for Katara's hands and tried to find the crystal chain she had fashioned for her. 'Where'd it go?'

She noticed Katara was carrying a crystal in her right hand - was it the firefly crystal she had felt next to her on the ice platform? Everyone kept talking about it, so it must be it - she couldn't feel a torch anywhere.

'Oh, I got one of the other earth benders to get rid of it.' Katara said.

Toph remembered what she realized earlier and focused on the ground to make sure nobody was about to sneak up on them.

'Look, Katara. Squid man isn't really a man. He's actually a woman.'

Katara snorted. 'What makes you think that?'

'Her voice,' Toph said. 'She's a woman, I know it. And nobody really knows what Squid looks like, anyway so how can you be so sure that she's a man?'

'Well, he told me that he's a man, so...' Katara began. 'I don't see why you don't trust him. He hasn't done anything so far to make us suspicious of him.'

'Yeah, well, look at those bones on the ground!' Toph retorted, pointing behind her. 'I bet _she_ ate the old inhabitants or they wouldn't have just shriveled up like that.'

'You're being paranoid, Toph. Remember Squid had killed some of the inhabitants in order to save the city and its people,' Katara said.

Toph stopped dead in her tracks. 'What? He never said that.'

Toph could feel Katara's heart rate increase. Toph took a step back.

'You're not Katara!' Toph said. 'I don't know what that water bending freak did to you, but you're not acting yourself.'

'What, you make that judgement based on a slip of the tongue?' Katara began. 'He's been talking with me all morning, I must have forgotten to mention it.'

'Katara wouldn't let something like _murder_ just _slip_ out of memory like that,' Toph said loudly. She quickly jumped into action and searched the air for Katara's hands. When she found the right one, she snatched the crystal out of her hand. Toph threw it into the ground. It shattered and Toph felt the fireflies flit against her feet briefly before flying away.

'You're not leaving here until I figure out what's going on!' Toph said. 'It's for your own good!'

Toph ran towards the archway but Katara was quick and ran out before even Toph could reach it. Toph cursed under her breath, blaming the straightforward architecture. She threw her hands to the side wall and pulled three crystal walls out from it, trapping Katara inside from all sides. Toph heard muffled yelling from inside the structure, but managed to seal the gaps without any troubles.

'I'm not letting you out until I figure out what's going on,' Toph began. 'I'm sorry, Katara. I'll be back soon.'

* * *

Meanwhile, Katara felt her body return to her control as she became trapped in the crystal cage Toph had made her.

'Toph!' she screamed, banging on the crystal. 'Don't approach that Squid guy on your own! He knows blood bending!'

But her voice didn't seem to reach Toph. She continued to yell, hoping it would attract somebody's attention. She felt the walls of the crystal and tried bending some water out of her water-bag. She shaped it into ice and clumsily hit the crystal. Now that she was paying attention, the dull sound suggested it was very thick. It would take hours for her to force her way out of there.

She did the only thing she really could do. She sank to the ground and waited for Toph to return, hopefully in one piece.

Katara massaged her temples. Tension was still trapped in her muscles and gave her a headache. Then slowly a hot feeling crept over her.

'It's just because it's a tight space and it's in pitch blackness. It's okay, Katara. Just calm down.' she told herself.

This must be what Toph experiences all the time, Katara thought. Maybe not the heat, but the blackness.

She felt the walls and tried to make out its structure like Toph did. She rapped her knuckles on the crystal, though that was unnecessarily painful. She remembered that outside the wall the crystal reflected surfaces like a mirror. It was very impressive. And there was even different types of quartz making up certain buildings. But Toph wouldn't know that. Toph didn't even know what she looked like.

Katara tried to imagine what it must be like to not know what she looked like. It was weirdly peaceful when she imagined it, but she wasn't sure if that was because focusing on nothing was mulling her into some kind of meditative state, or because there was genuinely something peaceful about not knowing what you looked like. She bet it was more like the former, she imagined not knowing what your appearance was might also be somewhat unsettling, especially since the world put such a large emphasis on appearances, even if it wasn't explicitly said all the time.

She focused on her sense of touch, trying to feel any vibrations on the floor that might suggest somebody was coming for her. On one hand she wanted to get out, but on the other she knew as soon as she was let out she would probably lose control over her body again.

The water bender heaved a heavy sigh and leaned back against the cold crystal. What would Aang do in this sort of situation? Well, Katara thought, being the Avatar he would get himself out with earth bending there so wouldn't even be a problem in the first place.

Suddenly, she could feel rumbling beneath her that got stronger as it approached. She got to her feet, ready to fight whatever or whoever was about to attack her. She was expecting Toph to open it, but was surprised to see Haan standing before her when the walls skidded down and back into the wall. Haan was a lot taller than Toph even though they both had black hair. He held a torch in front of him and watched Katara step out. His face looked white. Yelling could be heard in the distance.

'Toph's trying to pull Squid's mask off, yelling something about him being a woman. And then she mentioned that you were possessed...' Haan began. 'Has she gone crazy? Bulok and Em are trying to restrain her right now.'

Katara felt the familiar yet unwelcome feeling of somebody shifting matter inside her head. Once again, she was thrown back into the position of the observer as Squid took over her body.

'I don't know,' Katara admitted. 'But we have to stop her before she does something to hurt Squid.'


	7. Chapter 7: The Pendant

The real Katara watched as her body, no longer under her control, glided across the glassy floor and skidded to a halt in front of Toph, large pillars of earth holding her limbs apart. Haan raised a hand and pointed at Squid behind Toph.

'Toph says Squid is a woman,' Haan told Katara. 'What do you think we should do?'

'Now, now, hold on a second,' Rei said, moving over to Toph and pointing at her binds. 'I am the one who managed to secure funding for this trip. I want you to release Toph immediately. This is very inappropriate behaviour – what is wrong with you, people?'

Haan hesitated, but obliged when Bulok shot a flame at his feet.

The real Katara wanted to rush forward and force Toph out of those binds. She was relieved when somebody else did it, but if she were free such justice wouldn't be so delayed. Katara felt grateful for her friend's perseverance.

'We don't know much about this Squid person,' the fake Katara said. 'Is it right to make random accusations like this? We owe him some space, don't we?'

Bulok moved over to Katara.

'Katara, Squid may be disabled but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be suspicious. If we want to investigate Toph's claim we need to do it responsibly. Accusations of murder isn't something to just brush aside, but we shouldn't try to provoke the accused either.' Bulok eyed Toph with a frown on his face.

The real Katara was relieved to hear that the group was not so unreasonable after all. The fake Katara however, was stunned. She waved a hand covered in water. 'Doesn't the voice of the man himself mean nothing?'

'Guilty until proven innocent!' Toph yelled, stamping her unbound feet onto the ground, her binds gone.

To the real Katara's surprise, the fake Katara seemed to crumble against the moral opposition.

'Squid has changed his mind, he says it's okay to show you all the truth.' Katara said.

And then, Katara regained control of her body and she became aware of how tired she was. Her limbs ached and she had a stabbing headache. She was back in her body, for real... It was a relief. She felt so exhausted. But she had to tell the others what happened to her.

'Wait!' Katara began, and she walked over to Toph and gave her a hug. Katara could feel Toph's eyelashes scratching her arm and the earth bender tentatively hugged back. Katara felt a little bit of the weariness disappear for a second. 'Thank you, Toph. You were right – I was being possessed. But that's not the strangest thing - that water bender can do blood bending without the full moon.'

Toph pulled away from Katara and frowned. 'How do I know you're not making this up? How do I know you're really Katara?'

Katara frowned, and gave Toph's hand a squeeze. 'You mean you don't notice anything different about me?'

Toph spent a few moments in silence. 'Move back and forth on your feet for me.'

Katara obliged. Toph was silent for a few seconds, clearly considering her response. Then, she grinned broadly. 'It is you!'

Katara sighed with relief, and motioned toward Squid. 'This bender knows how to blood bend and can control minds by manipulating the water inside the nervous system. This bender can do this without the full moon. Do you deny this?'

Squid shook its head.

Rei frowned. 'It's true, then?'

'It is,' Katara admitted, and she stared at the Squid uneasily. 'I believe Toph. I think Squid is lying to us. I want to know what Squid looks like, and why she concealed the truth from us.'

Bulok and Rei walked forward, slowly, stopping in front of the squid person.

'Is this okay with you?' Bulok asked.

Squid nodded, showing no sign of resistance.

The tentacled arms slipped off of thin brown arms. When the mask came off, the face had an appearance so familiar Katara couldn't ignore it. Aside from the scar tissue around the eyes and in the eyesockets the complexion much like her own. A water bender, she should have known the appearance wouldn't be a surprise. Yet it was. Her hair was long straggly black. The woman didn't look older than 30. She must have been in some impressive hibernation.

'So you are female,' Bulok said. 'Yet you lied to us and manipulated us, especially Katara. Why should we bring you to the surface after all you've done?'

Katara watched a slither of water hover in the air and wrap around Katara's hand. Katara read the letters that were being spelled out to her. It was relatively slow, so it took a minute or so before she was able to communicate it all correctly.

'I used to live in the Northern Water Tribe. I wanted to learn water bending but the tribe was very strict back then and didn't allow females to bend. I wanted to prove myself to them, but they wouldn't accept any displays of my powers.' Katara translated.

She frowned. She had been in the very same situation once before. If she hadn't been accepted as a water bender, what lengths would she had gone to be accepted for training? Katara glanced at Toph. In some ways, this Squid person was similar to Toph as well. Toph had disobeyed her family in order to become a stronger bender.

'What about the full moon? Were you able to harness its powers somehow?' Katara asked. Then Katara remembered the Moon spirit in the koi pond; the pure essence of the moon. 'Did you do something to the moon spirit?'

Squid pulled a necklace out from under her polar-dog fur clothes. It was a silver pendant, probably bought at a street market. She opened it. A white fin was on display behind a glass shield.

'You cut off the moon spirit's _fin_?' Katara gasped.

Rei frowned, but the rest of the group seemed confused – clearly not familiar with the role of the moon spirit in the Northern Water Tribe – or its role in the world. Toph shrugged.

'So? The fish can grow back its fin, can't it?' Toph asked.

Squid nodded after a pause.

'So...' Katara began. 'That's how you have so much power. And... Let me guess. They banished you, and you tried to find work as a bender?' A new message was transmitted. 'Okay,' Katara continued. 'And you discovered blood bending by accident.'

Katara listened to Squid talk for some time and then bended the water off her hand. Indeed, the truth Squid had revealed to Katara earlier about killing benders to save the city was true. She did some thinking.

'It sounds like Squid was frightened of being reprimanded by us,' Rei commented. 'Well. despite what she's done I can understand her dilemma. What is it that made her change her mind?'

'Yeah,' Toph continued. 'And what's your real name?'

Squid frowned. Her mouth opened and closed briefly.

'It's okay,' Katara said. 'She doesn't need to tell us her name. She doesn't need to explain her reasoning either. Maybe it was just becoming too difficult to maintain the truth.'

Squid made no motion to reply to that comment. She got to her feet and walked off the ice platform she had been sitting on. She took a few awkward steps forward and picked up the tentacles and squid helm. She carried them under an arm.

Katara watched Squid with pity instead of fear, now. It was clear that given different circumstances, Katara might had ended up the same way.

'One more step out of line,' Rei warned Squid, who was arranging her squid gear into a neat pile. 'And we won't hesitate to defend ourselves or confiscate that necklace of yours. Don't think we'll go easy on you just because you came clean.'

* * *

They set up camp, deciding they all needed a well deserved rest. Squid sat alone and didn't seem keen on communicating with anyone. Rei even handed her some papers and a pen to write on. Toph then remembered to show Rei the papers she had found, and he eyed it eagerly before retiring to his tent to study them in more depth. Katara's headache was starting to subside, and she went to eat her dinner (chicken) by herself. She massaged her temples, feeling very weary. Toph sat next to her.

'You okay?' Toph asked.

Katara sighed. 'I will be. I just have an awful headache. It's not the most comfortable experience having your head controlled like that. It's very draining...'

Toph nodded and bit into her own chicken..

'Did you notice something about Squid?' Toph asked. 'That could have been us.'

Katara chuckled. 'So you noticed it too? It made me realize that even though we've had it hard, we've had it pretty easy in comparison to her. I can't imagine being banished from my own home. But it could of happened if I was born in the Northern Water Tribe.'

'I could be mute as well as blind if I messed with the right people,' Toph said.

They ate their food in silence.

'Toph?' Katara asked.

'What?' Toph said.

Katara smiled faintly. 'This might sound unrelated, but you know that book I brought with me?'

'Yeah? You're finally going to tell me what it is?'

'Yes. It's a book about the Avatar's history.'

'So it _was_ a history book,' Toph said. 'You're even more boring than I thought.'

'Hey, I was reading it with good intentions,' Katara retorted. But she laughed, nonetheless. 'I did some thinking when I was not... er... _myself_ and I realized that I'm not ready for a relationship with the Avatar.'

'I thought you already knew that,' Toph said. 'What's the difference?'

'The difference,' Katara said. 'Is that I realized that I'm _okay_ not being in a relationship with Aang – before I kept thinking something was wrong with me – but nothing's wrong. Some things just take time. Maybe it will happen in future, I don't know. But I'm not ready for an Avatar commitment. We're meant to be on equal standing but I just don't feel that right now.'

'So you're saying you want to be with someone you feel on equal standing with?' Toph asked.

'Yeah,' Katara said. 'That's right.'

Katara and Toph ate in silence, but it was notably slow.

'That wasn't unrelated at all, was it?' Toph asked softly. 'Are you saying...?'

'Hmm?' Katara said. 'Well, we were talking about being similar to Squid so it reminded me of this. I thought you would have wanted to hear about it.'

Toph laughed, but it sounded forced. 'Right.'

'What's wrong, Toph?'

'Oh, nothing,' Toph turned and walked back to the fire. 'I will get some more chicken though.'

* * *

Katara and Toph slept in their own tents that night though they were located right next to each other. Katara was having a relatively pleasant dream when she woke, feeling something on her head. In her dream it had been somebody person touching her hair. But somebody actually _was_ touching her hair. Katara spun around and looked up, accidentally knocking her head on the side of her crystal tent.

'Ow,' she breathed. The light from the fire was still dim so Katara was able to make out a body. It was Squid. Katara couldn't help herself, it was so unexpected that she felt a blush creep into her cheeks. A woman hadn't touched her hair like that before. Calm down, Katara thought, she probably didn't know how else to wake you. Seeing eyeless sockets in the dark was more than enough nightmare material for her though.

Squid's hand navigated to Katara's shoulder and rested there. Then it slid down and held Katara's hand. Katara had felt Toph do this before so it was not that unusual, but there was a gentleness to it that she had not expected. Katara's hand was pulled up to Squid's face and was held over Squid's eyes and then her mouth.

'Oh,' Katara whispered, thinking she knew where this was going. 'I can't heal your sight, I'm sorry. If the wounds were recent I might have been able to, but they're way too scarred now to help.'

But then Katara's hand was guided to Squid's collarbone. Squid's hands fumbled and pulled out the pendant.

Katara pulled her hand back, feeling a little awkward. Squid pulled the necklace off and handed it to Katara.

Katara took it.

'You want me to try healing you with help from the fin?' Katara asked, keeping her voice low. Squid nodded eagerly, her black hair bouncing on her shoulders. Katara put the necklace on, feeling like she was violating something precious, and put her hands up to Squid's face. She paused.

'Is this right?'

Squid nodded. But Katara withdrew her hands. Squid grabbed them again and placed them on her face.

Katara sighed. 'Okay, I'll try it. At least its power is being used for good this time, right?'

Katara bent water out of her water bag and they covered her hands. She had never healed wounds like this before but tried her best, making sure the water sank into every nook in Squid's skin. She felt the warmth spread from the palm of her hand and into her fingertips, finally seeping into Squid's body. And to her surprise it was working.

'Oh,' Katara said. 'This is unexpected.'

She felt Squid's tongue regrow in her mouth and her eyeballs reformed in her head. Katara pulled her hands away, feeling the powerful energy spreading through her hands. She felt overwhelmed by what she had just done. Such a disabling problem and it was suddenly _gone_... Why didn't the Northern Water Tribe take advantage of the Moon spirit more often?

Wait, what am I thinking, Katara thought. It's a spirit. Spirits shouldn't be abused like this. It would upset the balance of the world, wouldn't it? This power... Is more powerful than a simple full moon – it's the moon itself.

The light from Katara's hands disappeared and they dropped to her sides. Katara glanced at Squid.

Her eyes were brown and bright, and they suddenly filled with tears. If Katara had regained her voice and sight she would probably cry too.

'Katara...' Squid gasped. A smile spread across the woman's face. Squid's voice was hoarse and a bit deep.

Katara was surprised by what happened next. Squid kissed Katara on the mouth. Katara's eyes grew wide and she pushed Squid back, holding her shoulders at arm's length.

'I don't remember Northern Water Tribe members being so friendly,' she said, trying to make a joke about it. 'I can understand why you're grateful, but...'

But Squid was shaking her head.

'Don't be shy, Katara,' Squid said, trying to touch Katara's hand. But Katara moved her hand away.

'It's not okay to just... kiss people like that,' Katara said. 'I don't know what things were like before you were in hibernation, but things have probably changed.'

'Katara,' Squid said firmly. 'I saw into your _mind_. I know what you're like. We're very alike, aren't we?'

'Well,' Katara began. She only just realized how creepy it was that this woman probably knew every aspect of her life and motivations. 'Yes, but...'

'And I _know_ you. I saw you had potential in you. I just had to see if -'

'Potential for what, exactly?' Katara said.

'Potential for – ah, how do I say this-.' Squid mused. 'Falling in love with somebody of the same sex.'

Katara's nostrils flared. Where on earth did this come from? She just healed her sight and tongue for goodness sakes, and _this_ was how she thanked her? Talk about inappropriate.

'You can't just make up stories about what my head does in order to get your way,' Katara snapped. 'This entire trip you've been nothing but manipulative. It's not normal to enter somebody's head like you did with me, and it's certainly not okay to use that information to your own advantage. Do you _want_ to be trapped in here forever?'

Squid pulled away from Katara. 'I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just saying-'

'And what you're saying is wrong, okay?' Katara hissed. 'I know my mind better than you do. And just because you happen to like the same sex doesn't mean everyone does.'

Squid opened her mouth but Katara shook her head. 'Don't say anything. I don't want to hear what you have to say. We may be similar in many ways, but I don't...'

Squid raised an eyebrow. Katara shook her head.

'Just... I don't swing that way, okay?' Katara wrapped her hand around the pendant necklace. 'And you're not getting this back either. You could do with a little self control. I can't believe you would try to make a move on me after I helped you.'

'I was only trying to help,' Squid said.

'If you really knew me,' Katara continued. 'You would have known that making false assumptions about what I am capable of makes me very angry.'

Squid got to her feet and stared down at Katara. 'Nobody can know for sure how somebody is going to act, Katara. Not even me.'

Squid trot back to her tent, leaving Katara behind. Katara fumed silently in her sleeping bag for awhile. She refused to believe what Squid had told her was "true". She had been nothing but a liar until recently, why should this circumstance be any different?

Katara felt a stab of guilt as she heard a sniffle from where Squid was resting. But as she remembered the accusation the remorse disappeared.

Once Katara had calmed down somewhat she thought about the Moon spirit. Her fingers wrapped around the pendant; she could feel a soothing glow coming from it. And then a thought came to her, and the weight of the power she held in her hands hit her even greater.

_She could heal Toph's vision..._

* * *

_A/N: I'm not sure if this chapter was exposition-city but hopefully I managed some of the characterization okay. Lemme know if something needs improvement. I don't tend to go back and change things, but it's good to keep these things in mind for future chapters/stories. Thanks for reading. :)  
_


	8. Chapter 8: Pandemonium

When Toph woke the next morning, she could feel the heat from the fire crackling noisily behind her. She bent the crystal tent back into the ground and turned towards the fire. She could feel Bulok standing in front of it. The others were gone. Toph felt around for Katara and found her behind her. Toph approached the girl.

'What happened? Where is everybody?' Toph asked. The earth bender could feel Katara's body shaking. It felt tense to her. 'Why are you mad?'

'Oh, don't mind me,' Katara said sarcastically. 'It's just that Squid ran off and now we can't find her – but that's not a problem at all except that she has the pendant and is very dangerous.'

'Why would she run away?' Toph asked. 'It's not like she can find a way out or anything.'

Toph could feel Katara's weight move from one foot to the other very slowly in a very controlled manner. Her heart beat was increasing.

'You know something you're not telling me,' Toph said. 'What is it?'

'It's not for you to know, Toph,' Katara snapped, letting out a heavy sigh. 'Look. I'm sorry, Toph, but you're too young.'

'What!? I'm only two years younger than you!'

'But you're not...' Katara tried to phrase her words. 'It's just - not a comfortable thing to talk about.'

'So it's not about me after all. If you ask me,' Toph said, 'you're the one who's acting like a child.'

Toph suddenly felt a hand wrap around her own and drag her away. Toph could hear a torch-light in front of them, held up by Katara no doubt. They walked for twenty or so meters and then stopped.

'Toph, I don't normally ask you to do this, but could you please surround us with crystal thick enough to block sound?'

Toph slid her feet back and forth across the cold crystal floor.

'Sure.'

In a matter of seconds a large hut surrounded them. The large flame back at the camp site could no longer be heard. Only Toph and Katara's breathing, and the torch Katara held in her hand could be heard.

'This is going to sound crazy, and I don't know how you'll take this,' Katara began. 'But... Squid asked me to try healing her vision and tongue with the moon spirit fin... and I did it. And it _worked_.'

Toph was silent. Did she really hear that correctly?

'You healed her,' Toph mumbled. '...So you could have healed me.'

'You were asleep,' Katara said. 'I didn't want to wake you. Besides, I had confiscated the necklace from Squid. She took it back when I was asleep.'

'Why did you confiscate the pendant from her? She must have done something wrong,' Toph commented. 'I mean, Rei warned her not to try anything funny.'

Katara held her breath. Toph could feel her heart beat accelerate.

'It's...' Katara said slowly. But she stopped.

Toph smashed her fist into the ground. Katara jumped.

'I don't think it's right to tell,' Katara said quickly. Toph could feel Katara's body temperature increase. 'It's not something I feel comfortable sharing.'

'I don't want to force you to tell,' Toph said. 'But this is obviously important. If she stole the pendant from you and ran off, she might want to get revenge on you later. It just depends on what she did, and why you reacted so strongly as to warrant taking the pendant from her.'

'She...' Katara began. 'She kissed me, Toph. I think she has a thing for me.'

Toph was certainly not expecting that response.

'And you... took away the pendant because...?'

'Okay, fine, that's not all she did!' Katara said. Toph could feel movement in front of her, Katara may have been waving her hands around. 'She told me that she "knew me" and that when she was in my mind, controlling me, that she sensed that I could fall in love with a woman one day.' Katara's body temperature increased slightly. 'And that just made me really angry because, well, I've never loved a woman before – not like _that_. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever really loved anyone. And... She could have just made that up just to try and get close to me. I mean, think about it. She probably saw every aspect of my life through my own eyes. Doesn't that strike you as creepy? She might have just been manipulating me.'

Toph frowned.

'Well,' Toph said. 'It sounds like she developed feelings for you based on what she saw inside your own head.'

Toph felt Katara's heart beat get slower. Her body seemed to relax a little.

'Yeah, I know, Toph. I thought of that already.'

'Well, I'm just saying,' Toph began. 'She probably wouldn't have kissed you if she didn't like you.'

'I know, Toph. That's not the problem. The problem is that she tried to convince me that I was capable of that sort of love without really … I mean... How can you even _see_ something like that? I haven't made any indication that I'm capable of _that_. Is that really something you can extract from somebody's memories and thought processes before the person themselves are aware of it? It seems pretty farfetched to me.'

Toph flopped backwards, feeling the crystal on her back. 'Well, you did say you didn't think you had been in love before,' Toph began. 'So maybe she was just guessing. Or maybe just trying to get you to consider it.'

'It's not a good way to get me to consider it,' Katara grumbled. 'She was just... obnoxious.'

'To be honest with you, it sounds like you were the one being obnoxious. It sounds like you let her down pretty hard. Why else would she try to run away all of a sudden?'

Toph knew that comment would make Katara angry, but she didn't really care. Katara clearly wasn't thinking straight. She needed some common sense smacked into her.

'You sure are getting worked up about this,' Toph said. 'I mean... Even if you were capable of developing feelings for another girl, would it really be that big a deal?'

Katara laughed. 'Let's just say the water tribes were pretty old fashioned. What would my father say? And Sokka?'

Toph shrugged. 'They seem to care about you – and Sokka seems like a pretty understanding guy.'

Katara sat down and put a hand over her head.

'Toph, you're not making this very easy for me,' Katara said. 'You're making me feel...' Katara's voice softened. 'You're making me feel sorry for Squid. How can I forgive her? She controlled my body and looked around my head. ... It was scary.'

'Scary or not, I think you should apologize,' Toph said. 'I mean, I know I wasn't there and getting blood bended doesn't sound fun - but it sounds like you overreacted. And you said water tribes were old fashioned, right?'

'Yeah...' Katara said. 'And the Northern Water Tribe even more so.'

'Then you think this has been easy for Squid?' Toph asked. 'I mean, I won't lie, maybe she is a little messed up from being in hibernation for however many years... And she was wrong to blood bend, particularly to control you and confuse everyone... But I don't think she had bad intentions. She just wants to get out of here, and can you blame her for not trusting strangers? She hasn't been in contact with other humans for a long time.'

Katara sighed.

Toph punched Katara's arm. The water bender laughed.

'So, why was everyone gone? Why didn't you wake me?' Toph demanded.

'I... was trying to avoid this conversation,' Katara said. 'I could have restored your sight, but now Squid is gone. And she took Haan with her. I think she intends to try to escape using him to earth bend for her.'

'Don't you think the search would have been more efficient with me to help?' Toph said. 'Really, Katara.'

'I know, I haven't been acting myself,' Katara said.

Toph was surprised to hear a waver in Katara's voice. It came out of nowhere.

'And I didn't go with them to look because...' Katara's voice was low. The silence was uncomfortably heavy. 'I've lost my bending.'

* * *

Katara and Toph sat in the crystal hut in silence. Silence, except for Katara's sudden bout of crying. Toph didn't really know what to do.

Toph reached for Katara's hand and took the torch from her. She moved it a few meters away and placed it on the ground. She could feel the heat continuing to emanate from the torch. The earth bender could feel the fire altering some properties of the crystal, but not severely. They were safe, it seemed.

'I've never felt so pathetic,' Katara said. 'I just don't understand why this has happened to me. What did I do wrong?'

Toph found Katara's hand. It was a little wet from her tears, but Toph squeezed it anyway.

'Try not to think about it.'

'How can I _not_ think about it?' Katara retorted, and Toph flinched. Toph could hear the scratching of hands on face as Katara wiped away her tears. 'I've never felt so muddled up. Bending is an important part of me, you know? Of course you know. What does it mean if you lose it?' Katara sniffed. 'Maybe Squid used her blood bending to change something inside me... That would make perfect sense.'

'Is that even possible?' Toph asked.

'I don't know. It could be.'

Toph suddenly felt vibrations in the floor and got to her feet, letting go of Katara's hand. 'C'mon, get up! Enough sulking.'

Toph could feel Katara slowly get to her feet and pick up the torch. Toph pushed the crystal wall downs as the vibrations got nearer. She found she was able to resolve some detail in it, now.

'It's Squid,' Toph said. And she ran forward, leaving Katara behind. She felt the figure getting closer, and Haan was nearby. Toph pushed her hands into the floor, forcing crystal to come up in front of Squid... but her vibrations disappeared.

Toph was dumbfounded, and tried moving her feet around. But she was gone. Maybe she was moving over water? Suddenly, Toph felt ice surround her ankles and secure her to the floor. Then she felt ice cover her hands as well. Toph was stuck. She suddenly felt Squid's feet in front of her, and breathing on her face.

'What do you want?' Toph yelled. The earth bender could feel Bulok running up from behind her, but he was secured in ice as well.

'I want to get out of here,' Squid hissed to Toph. Toph felt hair tickle her cheek and she tried to bite it, but Squid jumped back.

'I want to get out of here _now_,' Squid said. 'I don't want to stay here any longer. I can't stand it.'

Toph heard the pain in the woman's voice behind the distress. 'Wait, is this because of Katara?'

'...She told you about that?'

'She did, but she's not very happy about what she did. She wants to apologize to you,' Toph said quickly. And she yelled, 'KATARA!'

She heard Katara running towards them, and she stopped at the sight of them.

'Katara, don't you have something to say to Squid?' Toph asked.

Katara took a few steps forward.

'Uh... Yes.'

Squid moved away from Toph and approached Katara. 'Well?'

Toph could feel Katara shaking, though she seemed to control it pretty well.

'I'm sorry about what I did to you,' Katara admitted.

Squid said. 'And what was that?'

'I was cruel to you last night, I overreacted,' Katara said. Toph could feel Katara's heart rate increase. 'I'm... flattered that you have feelings for me. But I can't reciprocate.'

Squid seemed to be considering the apology.

'Please, let Toph go,' Katara continued. 'She's my best friend.'

Suddenly, Toph felt the ice around her feet disappear. She decided to stay still and observe the scene. She listened, and felt Haan regain his normal movement.

'I want to ask a favor,' Katara told Squid. 'I know that necklace is technically yours, but would I be able to use it to help Toph? I did help you, after all.'

There was a moment's pause. Then, Toph heard the tinkle of metal and heard it being passed over to Katara. Suddenly, Toph felt Rei and the other earth benders approaching. They were all cautious.

That's a good idea, Toph thought. Don't anger the water bender with the crazy blood bending powers.

Toph felt Katara approaching. Toph tried to steady her breathing. She would be able to see for the first time in her life... She didn't know what to think. It was too surreal.

'I'll finally be able to see what you look like,' Toph said.

'You'll be able to see what _you_ look like, too. Isn't that exciting?'

'Yeah...' Toph murmured. 'Exciting.'

She felt Katara's warm hands cover her eyes.

'I can't believe this is happening,' Toph said, and she could feel her stomach drop. 'So many things have happened so quickly. What will happen to my bending abilities? Will I still be good?'

'You won't be the Blind Bandit any more, that's for sure,' Katara said. 'Why, are you having second thoughts?'

'No,' Toph said, clenching her fists. 'Just do it.'

Toph felt a hotness in her eyes. Seconds passed, and Toph thought she could see something out of the corner of her eyes. She felt warmth spread from her eyes to the back of her head. Toph closed her eyes tightly.

'Is it done?'

Katara paused and then pulled her hands away. Toph squinted and then opened her eyes fully.

Before her was a woman, her skin lit by something. She realized that she didn't have any words for what she saw. It was disorienting at first, but Toph had so much experience with feeling things that it was slow connecting them to things she could finally see. She relied on her sense of touch to orientate herself. She looked at the ground. That's what smoothness looks like?

'Wow,' Toph murmured, noticing a curious property about the crystal. She touched the floor. 'It's... Different.'

'They're colours, Toph,' Katara said.

Indeed, the floor was made up of lots of different coloured crystals. It was something she hadn't been aware of until then. The earth had a whole new meaning now that she could see it.

Toph looked up to Katara, still finding it strange that she was seeing her for the first time. Toph blushed at Katara's smile.

That's what a smile looks like, Toph thought, looking at Katara up and down.

'You're pretty, Katara,' Toph said.

Katara's cheeks seemed to change colour slightly. Toph noticed she had no words to describe what she saw – what colour specifically anyway. She assumed that must have been what blushing looked like.

Toph stared around and saw Squid. The woman looked very similar to Katara in some ways, except her body structure was noticeably older looking and her hair was black. She had pointier features too.

Toph saw the torch in Katara's hand and the water bag at her waist. The torch was painful for her eyes, but she imagined she could get used to that.

'Yeah... Don't look straight into the light source, Toph,' Katara urged. 'It's not good for you.'

'Oh,' Toph laughed. 'I thought it was just me.'

Toph looked around and saw Haan and the other benders. Then she saw Bulok, wearing a hat for some reason, and Rei. Now that she could see them they were more interesting to her than they had been. Toph looked back at Katara and walked around her, looking at her from every angle.

'Weird,' Toph said, and she rubbed her eyes. 'Vision is so_ strange!_'

'It might take awhile to get used to,' Katara said.

Toph nodded, noticing that she was still relying on her sense of feeling a lot – her earth bending sense. She didn't have a good sense for how reliable vision was yet, and she relied on her sense of feeling more for this reason. She closed her eyes and found the darkness she was so familiar with, before she noticed the torch flame could still be seen from behind closed eyelids as a type of patchiness. It was unexpected.

Toph felt Katara handing Squid back the necklace before she remembered that she could just watch it happen. Seeing would take awhile to get used to, she decided. Everything was new and strange.

'Katara,' Toph said. 'Can you show me that book of yours?'

'Sure. This way.'

Toph eyed her own feet as she walked, noticing how the crystals changed colours. She noticed how her movement influenced the patterns, finding it fascinating. The way her feet looked even changed with the torch light. But before they could return to the campsite, Squid ran towards them and grabbed Katara's hand.

'I want to talk to you, Katara, if that's okay. I feel like I owe you an explanation.'

Katara pulled her hand out of Squid's grip and shook her head. 'Maybe later,' Katara said. 'I want to show Toph the book. But then I'll listen to what you have to say, okay?'

Squid looked from Katara to Toph and nodded. 'Of course, I'm sorry. Got ahead of myself.'

* * *

_A/N: Is there too much chatting and not enough exploring? I'm getting the impression that the pacing just got really quick, but correct me if I'm wrong. I just don't want things to get boring. Also the "cure blindness" thing wasn't something I originally planned, but I thought if you're going to have the ability to mimic the moon spirit's power to use it for blood bending you would be able to use it for good as well. So I thought it was important to explore that. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this story. It's my first proper ATLA fanfiction._

_Also I changed the genre of the story from Adventure/Friendship to Friendship/Romance. Is it possible to have the latter two together? Oh well, it is now. Also it's a confirmed Katara/Toph story now. Perhaps not explicitly in the story, but I have a better idea where the story is going right now._


	9. Chapter 9: Revelations

Toph rest in her earth tent and sank back against the wall. She found herself ignoring her sight a lot of the time, but she was making a concerted effort to use it.

'Practice makes perfect, right?' Toph grinned, while Katara searched for the Avatar book. She pulled it out and sat next to Toph.

But before they could begin Rei poked his head into the tent. 'Ah, sorry – I understand you girls have been through a lot recently, but Toph, would you be able to show me where you found those documents earlier?'

Toph got to her feet and walked to the edge of the tent. 'Sure thing.'

Toph relied upon her sense of touch to find the way, considering she had no visual memory of the spot. That said, she kept her eyes open and tried to combine the two pieces of sensory input together. She walked down the alleyway and pointed into the room at the end of it. Rei held up a torch, examining the walls.

'Hmm, thank you, Toph. You can go back to camp now. There's something strange about this room,' Rei mumbled.

Toph nodded and pointed to the corner of the room. 'It might be hard to see but there's a hidden door there.'

Rei pushed his hands against the walls and ran his fingers over it. 'Very well, thank you, Toph. Keep in mind that I want everybody to do some more exploring in about an hour. I just want to get my bearings.'

'M-kay,' Toph said, walking back to the camp.

She found Katara sitting with the book on her lap, waving her hand back and forth over her water bag.

'Still no luck?' Toph asked. Katara shook her head.

'I'm sure it'll come back to me eventually,' she said, solemnly. 'Well, let's have a look at this book, then!'

Seeing letters for the first time was headache-inducing. She couldn't read, of course, but Katara showed Toph the pictures of all the different Avatar forms.

'I think I like Kyoshi the most,' Toph commented. Katara smiled, eyeing the female warrior with a small smile.

'She is pretty amazing.'

'Hey,' Toph started, flicking through a few pages. 'If you fall for the Avatar, does that mean you have to love all their reincarnations too?'

Katara laughed. 'No, they're dead.'

'But they have the same spirit,' Toph continued. 'I mean, think about it.'

'Don't think I haven't, Toph,' Katara said. 'But there's no point thinking about it, because they're dead. There's only one Avatar alive at a time, remember?'

'Says the person who decided to read this book,' Toph teased. Katara didn't seem to care anymore. Suddenly, there was a knock on the side of the crystal tent. Toph poked her head out.

'Hello seafood breath,' Toph said cheerfully. Katara moved out of the tent and looked at Squid.

'That's right, I said I'd come talk to you, didn't I?' Katara murmured.

Toph made the tent disappear. 'Wait, I want to come.'

Katara put a hand on Toph's shoulder and looked at her. 'Are you sure? She might say some things that would make you uncomfortable.'

'I think you mean might make _you_ uncomfortable,' Toph said.

Katara looked at Squid wearily. The other water bender nodded.

'It's okay,' Squid said.

They walked away from the campsite and sat on some chairs Toph melded out of the ground in a triangle formation. They sat.

'Katara, I wanted to tell you my reasoning behind what I told you the other day,' Squid began, looking at Toph uncertainly. 'I know I came on a bit strong.'

'A bit?' Katara laughed, pulling out the sarcasm. 'Yes, only a bit.'

Squid smiled meekly. 'I think this is related to why you lost your bending. I think you're repressing a part of you that wants to come out. It's something you hadn't noticed before but the moment you did, you tried to shut it down. I can understand that. My family was very strict and close minded.'

Toph noticed Katara's face contort, but she seemed able to keep herself calm. Her heart beat was fairly regular.

'Are you saying I'm a lesbian, Squid?' Katara snapped. 'I mean, if you are, you better come out and say it. It's not like I've really fallen for any guys before.'

'Well, no I'm not,' Squid said slowly. She looked at Toph again. 'Katara, you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. And I recognize in you the same thing inside myself. You're a very caring person, Katara.'

Toph felt Katara's body temperature increase. Toph tried to take a deep breath and sigh, but she found her jaw tight. She felt a pain in her chest, she felt as if she was momentarily separated from her body. She tried to slap her face to make the pain go away, but the more she focused on it the worse she felt. A panic attack? What for? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the blackness. Maybe having vision made her feel vulnerable. Like she didn't realize how much her face revealed until she saw how much expressions on other people's face did.

'She's telling the truth, Katara,' Toph said, suddenly. 'I can feel it.'

Katara seemed to be trying to control her breathing. 'This isn't exactly easy to take in.'

'The reason I decided to leave your body, is because your feelings were making me … sad. It reminded me of the pain I went through, coming to terms with my love for my best friend.'

'What - what are you saying?' Katara stammered. 'Are you saying my feelings for Toph made you unhappy? Toph, she's lying, isn't she?'

Toph realized that this creeping discomfort was what was making her body ache, making her want to run away.

'You have feelings for me?' Toph repeated. 'Uh...'

Toph got to her feet and opened her eyes, trying to focus on Katara for a moment. Katara's face was anxious, but Toph started to see a caring expression underneath it. It made Toph feel safe, but Toph had to second guess that feeling. It was caring with a selfish motive. Love? How would she know what that looked like? She hardly knew what any emotions looked like. She couldn't _see_ with her eyes properly.

'Toph!' Katara began. Toph felt her hand touch her forehead. 'Toph, you're getting pale. Maybe you need to lie down.'

'I just need to get away from you for a moment,' Toph mumbled. 'I need to think about this.'

'But I don't feel those things,' Katara said. Toph knew she was merely in denial at this point. And that denial, the earth bender realized, was stifling her bending.

'Katara, I need some time by myself,' Toph urged, the sharp sensation in her chest getting more and more painful. 'I just need to be by myself.'

Katara reached out to try and touch Toph's arm, but Toph slammed the heel of her left foot into the ground and skidded away on a crystal wave. She arrived at the campsite and approached the large fire being kindled by Bulok. It was huge, the top of the flames licked the ceiling, removing the need for any torches.

The earth bender strode a few meters away and surrounded herself in crystal walls so nobody could get in. She was in pitch darkness and silence. Her real friend.

If feelings of friendship could turn to desire so quickly, Toph thought, then friendship was just a premise. Was Katara going to become like Haan? Selfish?

Toph took a deep breath, letting the heavy silence surround her like a blanket. Toph always thought of Katara as a friend, but now this truth about Katara was being revealed, she had to reconsider her position.

I love Katara, but as a close companion, Toph thought. But what does being in a romantic relationship even mean? Is it just something two people do because they're attracted to each other? There's more to it than that. Where do feelings of love come from, anyway? Is it just something that happens when two people are similar to each other? You feel a bond, and then... And then what?

Toph sensed Katara's footsteps approaching her crystal cube. The water bender leaned against it. Toph put her head in her hands.

Love is stupid, she thought angrily. All it does is make things complicated.

* * *

Minutes passed, and then Katara's muffled voice could be heard through the wall.

'I'm sorry, Toph. You probably don't feel like you can trust me now. Like these feelings will eventually consume me. I hardly understand it myself.'

Toph didn't respond, she heard the pain in Katara's voice. The fear. She didn't want to lose Toph. But was that just because she had those feelings, or because she genuinely cared about Toph? She wasn't sure any more. Maybe their whole friendship was building up to this point, under the surface, in her subconscious mind. Could she trust that?

'At least now I'm calmer,' Katara was saying. 'I can bend again. Isn't that great?'

Toph didn't say anything then, either. She listened to Katara's muffled voice. Despite Toph's confusion she couldn't help but feel comforted by it. Like Katara hadn't changed at all.

'Squid told me my culture, like hers, made it harder for her to come to terms with this,' Katara said. 'I'm sorry if you feel like you can't trust me now, but I can assure you that nothing's changed. If anything, you should have been more uncomfortable around me before when I was acting irrationally. When I lost my bending.' Katara said. 'And just because Squid said those things, doesn't mean I have to act on it. If you're uncomfortable with it, I'll understand. But I still want to be friends with you.'

Toph felt the pain in her body disappear. She could feel a warm glow in her stomach, like Katara was healing her. She knew that wasn't the case, but...

Toph hit the floor and the crystal disappeared into the ground. Katara spun around and looked at Toph. She smiled, sadly.

The earth bender crawled towards her and wrapped her arms around her. She felt overwhelmed with positive emotion in that moment. Something Katara was good at was making her feel better.

'I still want to be friends with you,' Toph said, pressing her head against her collarbone and pressing her palms into her back. 'And it's not like I'm uncomfortable with _you_, I just don't understand what this means for _us_.'

'I understand, don't worry, Toph,' Katara said. 'And nothing has to change between us if you don't want it to.'

Toph could feel her breath brushing her ear. They pulled apart from their hug and Bulok chuckled from in front of the fire. His eyes appeared from under his hat as he stared at the two.

'How sweet,' he said.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Rei arrived at the campsite and held up a few extra documents. He called everybody over. Once all the benders surrounded them Rei pointed at the arranged papers that were aligned side by side as a 5x5 grid.

'It's a map, isn't it?' Haan repeated. 'What's it pointing to?'

'I don't know,' Rei mumbled. 'But it certainly looks ominous.'

Toph looked at the papers, not understanding the lines on them.

Suddenly, Squid appeared behind them.

'It's pointing to the crystal golem,' she announced. 'It sleeps in the heart of the city. If the temperature gets high enough it'll activate its systems. I saw it when the volcano erupted. It's very powerful.'

Rei gathered the papers together. 'And you failed to mention this because...?'

Squid waved her arms around. 'This place is dead, the golem isn't going to just wake up!'

Bulok suddenly lessened the fire he had created, making it a lot smaller than it was.

'I vote that Bulok stays here,' Toph announced, pointing at the fire bender. 'No golems for us!'

'That creature must be incredible,' Haan said.

'It's a machine,' Squid said.

Haan waved a hand. 'Whatever. I bet we could sell it for a fortune.'

Rei pondered for a moment. 'What if we could bring it to the surface without waking it up? I bet it would be wonderful to study. Maybe we could learn to make similar things, with different types of bending?'

Everybody looked to Squid for confirmation, but the water bender shrugged.

'I don't know how they work. Maybe there are some papers lying around that show its blueprints.'

'Well,' Rei began. 'I did have a look around the main parts of this city. I suggest we clear out as many relics as possible and then come back down to investigate this golem as our major prize once we clear out most of the city.' He gathered up the papers. 'Earth benders, get ready! Water benders, stand by! Bulok, lead the way!'

* * *

_A/N: Squid is pretty much a big plot device in case that wasn't already obvious. How do you find her? Is she becoming too boring now? How do you find Katara and Toph's relationship? Is it developing realistically? Constructive criticism always appreciated._


	10. Chapter 10: Back to Ba Sing Se

The group gathered as many items as they could on an ice-platform that Katara made. When all the items were secure, Katara weaved more water around the items and froze them so they were all planted to the ice and wouldn't knock into each other.

Squid on the other hand had run back to the underground lake and was tunneling water down to Katara. When all the items were firmly in place, Squid came back down and admired Katara's handiwork. On the platform were a number of delicate items such as large rose quartz vases and citrine jewellery boxes filled with quartz necklaces and earrings. More interesting were the statues, statues carved out of crystal into the shape of snakes, worms, and dragons.

Katara couldn't help but admire them. She couldn't help but imagine what she might look like wearing those quartz earrings.

'Don't get excited,' Rei told her, noticing her gaze and shaking his head. 'This will be going straight into the Ba Sing Se museum for study.'

'Do you think lava bending could ever be learned again?' Katara asked him. 'I mean...' She touched the rim of a vase with a dragon-pattern dancing around it. 'These are very beautiful - and as much as I don't like to agree with Haan, these could make some money. Maybe it would help Ba Sing Se's economy.'

Rei laughed loudly. 'Please, Katara. There is nothing wrong with Ba Sing Se's economy.'

Bulok was tapping the ice at numerous spots on the platform to make sure it wouldn't break at any sudden movements. He spoke up, hearing their conversation. 'If we find any scrolls, they'll be studied carefully and copies will be made. Maybe lava bending could be renewed, but it would need to be taught carefully, as is learning any of the elements. But particularly so because it could upset any dormant volcanoes.'

Katara nodded.

Suddenly, Rei clapped his hands together. Toph, Haan, Em, and the other three benders (Rick, Pao, and Sayu) gathered together, ready to move their first load out of crystal city. Bulok asked the benders to cover the items in rock for extra security and they did so, only covering it in crystal because any other rock was sparse.

'Everybody should earth bend the crystal under the box so it moves smoothly back to our resting area,' Rei instructed. 'As for you water benders, be wary to catch it in case it falls.'

Katara and Squid nodded.

Bulok raised his voice again and walked to the front of the group, holding a flame in his hand. 'Once we get to the top this will be delivered to the museum. You will wait while the workers take the items inside. Any suspicion of stealing will be taken seriously and you will be fined and immediately removed from the case.' Bulok said. 'While we're up there - Katara, I want you to talk to Squid about settling into Ba Sing Se.'

Squid raised a brow, but said nothing.

'Where else are you meant to go?' Katara hissed to the bender. Squid shrugged.

'I guess I don't know,' she murmured.

They started to make their way back to the surface, leaving their bags behind. They walked in silence, except when Toph reached the lake and walked across the ice. She walked extra slowly, clearly trying to relate the lack of feeling in her feet to the appearance of the icy walkway. Katara noticed, and held Toph's hand to help her across the ice.

The trip was otherwise uneventful, though they had a quick food break once they got to the mouth of the cave. It felt almost surreal to Katara to see the trees again, and the broad daylight. Toph, on the other hand, was in awe. She walked in the grass and touched the trees, eyeing the leaves with curiosity. Squid watched the outdoors with an empty expression.

The trip back into Ba Sing Se would have earned them their fair share of strange looks if Rei hadn't managed to secure a private earth-train back into the city. Waiting at the museum was boring, so Katara asked permission to go back to her home with Toph and Squid.

'Why do you have to bring fish-breath with us?' Toph groaned.

Katara eyed Toph. 'You heard Rei, she's my responsibility.'

Squid was quiet the whole way back. When Katara reached the front door to their home she knocked the door noisily.

Sokka opened the door with a towel around his waist. When he saw the three girls he blushed and closed the door again quickly.

'I thought you were Suki, _I'm sorry!_' he screeched.

Katara turned to Squid. 'That is my brother, Sokka.'

'I know,' Squid mumbled. 'You don't need to tell me.'

Katara laughed, nervously.

'So that's what he looks like,' Toph commented.

* * *

When Sokka finally let them in, Katara introduced Squid to Sokka, giving Sokka a tamer version of her discovery story. She even told him about the necklace and how she had healed Toph's sight. Sokka didn't comment on Squid's fake name, but proceeded to observe Toph's eyes with interest.

'What? You can see now?' Sokka beamed at Toph.

Toph grinned meekly, noticing she was uncomfortably close to his face. She could see all the individual teeth in his mouth. 'Yep. Though I'm still getting used to it.'

'That's great!' Sokka exclaimed. 'Congratulations.'

'I need to borrow Katara for a moment,' Squid announced, suddenly.

Before their conversation could continue, Squid pulled Katara aside into another room while Toph and Sokka discussed Toph's experience with vision so far.

Katara stared around the laundry, eyeing Sokka's old underwear lying across baskets with distaste. The bender then looked at Squid, frowning.

'What's the issue?' Katara asked, before motioning at the door. 'You don't expect me to tell Sokka about my little discovery do you? No way. That doesn't need to be talked about unless it's immediately relevant.'

Squid shook her head, and pulled her necklace off. She held Katara's hand and put the necklace in her palm. 'I want you to take this.'

Katara was stunned, but took the pendant and put it around her neck. The pendant dropped over her chest. Katara could feel the familiar warm glow of power seeping into her body from the fish fin.

'You know, I can't possibly keep this with a clear conscience,' Katara told her. 'I'll have to return it to the Northern Water Tribe.'

Squid's black hair fell across her face. 'I know. That's why I'm giving it to you. I want to start a new life and I can't do that carrying that thing around. It's been useful to me in the past, but I think it's better in your hands. I think you'll be a lot more responsible with it than me.'

Katara couldn't help but feel touched. 'Squid...'

'And my real name,' Squid began. 'Is Kali. But you didn't hear it from me.'

Katara wouldn't help noticing that Kali looked very weary, but made no comment. Kali held a hand to Katara's face, but Katara didn't flinch this time as her fingers touched her cheek.

'Sorry if this sounds weird...' Katara began, ruining the mood. 'But Kali? Like calamari?'

Kali laughed, letting her hand drop to her side. 'Yep. I didn't choose the name Squid for nothing!'

Katara and Kali giggled for a few moments before settling down. Katara gripped the pendant in her hand.

'Where will you go?'

Kali shrugged. 'I'll find somewhere to live. There aren't many water benders around these parts, right?'

Kali then gave Katara a hug. Katara couldn't help but notice her squid-smell. To a layperson (or Toph) it would have been foul, but to her it was a comforting smell. A reminder of the water tribes. Katara touched Kali's hair and the women pulled away from each other.

Kali kissed Katara on the cheek.

'You know, I can't believe I'm saying this,' Katara said. 'But I think I might even miss you.'

'Better than nothing, I guess!' Kali said. 'I guess I should feel lucky, considering you'd even want to talk to me after all I did to you.'

'Everyone makes mistakes,' Katara said. 'At least you won't be blood bending any time soon.'

'Yeah...' Kali sighed.

Katara then opened the laundry door and Kali followed her out. Sokka and Toph looked at them.

'About time,' Toph said. 'We should probably get back to the camp.'

'Anything interesting down there?' Sokka asked. 'Any treasure you can bring home?'

'In the laundry? Nope,' Katara said. 'But the caves? We just bring the treasure back to the museum and that's that.'

'Well,' Toph began. 'There is a golem. We're going to look at that soon. That'll be neat.'

'Yeah...' Katara said. 'If it doesn't try to kill us, anyway.'

'Well, see you guys later!' Sokka began, pushing the two girls towards the door. But the door was already open. 'Wait, who …'

'Squid,' Toph said. 'She left.'

Indeed, the front gate was open as well and Squid was nowhere to be seen.

'Let her leave,' Sokka said. 'Anyway, Suki's coming back from the markets soon so... make lots of money!'

He shoo'd them away.

* * *

Katara and Toph met the others back at the museum and waited on a nearby bench for all the unloading to finish. It was very slow work.

Toph leaned against Katara's arm and groaned. Katara patted Toph's head.

'Don't worry, we'll be going back soon.'

'We better be,' Toph grumbled. 'I'm about to die of boredom.'

Toph and Katara ended up having a nap on the bench. Katara and Toph each acted as one another's pillow. They had been asleep for an hour when Rei woke them up and rustled them to their feet.

'Gotta get moving!' he clicked his fingers together. 'Chop chop!'

'Don't you mean click click?' Toph murmured, still half asleep.

* * *

After the museum trip was done the group went to eat at a restaurant, all meals charged under Rei and Bulok's funding money. They ate at a fancy curry restaurant and ate a simple banquet. After the meal they all hobbled over to the earth train and sank back into their chairs as it chugged them to the outer wall. Once they got off the train they walked to their cave through the forest. Katara and Toph walked side by side.

Toph watched the moon rise through the tree branches and saw stars appearing around it.

'It's beautiful, isn't it?' Katara said.

Toph nodded, silently.

'What's up with you?' Katara asked. 'You've been quiet since the restaurant. Did you eat something bad?'

'Oh, I just have a few things on my mind, that's all,' Toph said. 'Why? Are you surprised that I might actually think about some things?'

'No need to get grumpy, I was just concerned,' Katara said.

Toph sighed. 'Right. Sorry.'

They walked in silence. They eyed the flame lit by Bulok ahead of them.

Suddenly, Toph spoke up, and when Katara looked at her there was a blush on her cheeks.

'Katara?' she said.

'What is it?' Katara asked, eyeing the blush across the earth bender's cheeks with confusion.

'This might sound funny, but... I really like you. You're a very cool person.'

'Uh,' Katara began, wondering where this was coming from. 'Thanks, Toph! I like you too.' Katara then waved her hands. 'Er, I mean - you know what I mean! As a friend!'

Toph hid her face under her hair and walked, staring at her feet.

'Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually,' Toph began. 'I mean... I'll be frank, I haven't been in love before. But I want to know what it's like. I can't help but feel like there's something I'm missing out on.'

'What have I got to do with any of this?' Katara asked. 'You can't force yourself to be in love with somebody.'

'No,' Toph said. 'But I want to go out with you.'

'What!?' Katara said, a little too loudly than she wanted. 'Toph, this is coming out of nowhere. I don't think you know what you're saying.'

'Oh, I know what I'm saying,' Toph said. 'I figured if there's anyone I feel close to, it's you. And I figured maybe if I got closer to you I might have a better idea what it's like being in a relationship. I really feel like I'm missing something. And I want to know.'

'Toph,' Katara urged. 'I can't agree to this. Just on principle. It's not how relationships work. Are you worried that you're never going to go out with somebody? Is that what you're worried about?'

Toph was quiet. Then she spoke. 'I don't know. I just feel like I have to do this.'

'But where did this come from?' Katara stammered. 'I'm sorry, Toph. I really don't understand your thought process.'

'Fine,' Toph snapped. 'I confess. I had a dream about you when we were sitting on the bench together. And it suggested that this might be a good idea. And it felt normal - it felt like the right thing to do. That's why I want to try this. What if the dream is right?'

Katara rubbed her forehead. 'Did I just miss a recent broadcast in Toph-land?'

'Is it really so hard to understand?' Toph retorted. 'I mean, okay, I don't even understand it myself - but that's why I want to go out with you, Katara. I want to know what the dream meant.'

Katara frowned, thinking about the suggestion for a moment. If Toph did have this dream and she doesn't understand it, maybe I would be taking advantage of her by agreeing to this. Maybe this business with Kali and me got Toph thinking about love and relationships which made this dream appear to her. She probably feels very confused right now. In that case, is it right for me to just -

'Well?' Toph demanded. 'What do you think?'

'I'm thinking right now, okay?' Katara snapped. 'Just give me some time to think about this! All I want to do is the right thing for you as a friend.'

'The right thing for you to do,' Toph said, crossing her arms. 'Is for you to be my girlfriend. Simple as that.'

Katara wrangled her hands together in frustration. 'If you don't give me some time to think about this, you'll be the most annoying girlfriend I've ever had!'

'I'll be the only one you've ever had!' Toph yelled. 'Be grateful I'm giving you the opportunity!'

Katara scowled and walked off in front, leaving Toph behind to walk in the forest alone. Katara stormed past the trees and bushes and caught up with Rei and later Bulok. She walked alongside Bulok with a scowl on her face.

'Problems with -?' he began, but Katara cut him off.

'No problems at all. Everything is just wonderful. Let's talk about fire bending.'


	11. Chapter 11: Toph's Dream

As Katara was walking she considered using the moon spirit fin in order to probe Toph's brain but quickly decided that wasn't the right thing to do. But then she reconsidered. Maybe if she understood Toph's thought process more clearly, she would have a better idea what Toph was feeling at that moment. But again, she came to the conclusion that it was wrong.

Kali gave me the pendant so I would use it responsibly, Katara thought. So that's what I'm going to do.

She turned back to look at Toph and caught her gaze. Toph's stare was surprisingly intense, Katara turned away as she felt a blush creep onto her face. She sighed and shook her head.

If this is what Toph really wants, should I honor her decision and go out with her? Katara thought. It would help her figure out what she wanted, and as a friend I should be supportive of her decision and help her figure out what her feelings mean.

Despite these thoughts, Katara still felt uncomfortable. She still felt that she would be taking advantage of Toph's emotions if she went out with her. She pressed her fingers into her temples and sighed. Katara gripped the pendant and held it tight in her fist.

What is the right thing to do? Katara thought at it. Give me a sign.

The moon fin gave no sign, but Katara felt its power in her body and decided that she would take a quick peek into Toph's head. She didn't know how to do it, but assumed the moon fin would guide her in the right direction. She held a hand out in front of her, sensing Toph walking behind her. She felt the water in Toph's body and the mass of it sitting inside of her skull. Katara closed her eyes for a moment and tried to move the water in Toph's head. Katara didn't feel anything special and no memories came to mind or anything.

Maybe I'm supposed to link my brain to hers somehow... Katara wondered. But... how?

Suddenly, Katara had an idea. As she moved the water in Toph's head, she moved the water in her own in the same way. It was astounding, but she occasionally got images and sounds appearing in her head that weren't her own. But before she could focus on them, she felt something hard hit her back and she fell forward into the grass.

She tasted dirt in her mouth, feeling a body lying on her back. The water bender peered behind her and saw Toph lying on her back.

'Don't you dare look into my head without my permission!' Toph growled at Katara.

Katara gulped. 'I'm sorry. I just wanted to have a better understanding of what you're going through -'

'So you don't believe what I told you? Because that's all you really need to know, trust me,' Toph snarled, pulling on Katara's hair so her ear was exposed. Katara yelped at the yank and turned her head away to face the dirt. She saw ants crawling over a leaf.

'Toph, I'm sorry, okay?' Katara cried. 'Please get off me, I promise I won't do it again. I didn't fully want to do it in the first place, but I wasn't sure what to do. I just wanted to understand.'

Toph stayed put on Katara's back, adjusting her position so she was sitting across her lower back. Katara tried to push her body up, but Toph was sitting in an awkward spot and she found it hard to pull her legs under her. Suddenly, Katara noticed Rei's earth-bender shoes in front of her face.

'Girls, if you continue to misbehave you'll be kicked off the expedition,' came the voice.

Toph got to her feet and Katara pulled herself up, brushing the dirt off her clothes. Katara hung her head.

'I'm sorry, Rei. Please excuse us, it's just a personal dispute.'

'It was Katara's fault,' Toph exclaimed. 'She did blood bending on me!'

Rei glared at Katara. 'Katara, you know blood bending is not an acceptable use of water bending around these parts.'

'I...' Katara began, but she faltered. 'I'm not the only one to blame. Toph has put me in a very difficult position. I was only trying to -'

But Rei shook his head. 'Katara and Toph, this is enough. I've heard enough complaints about the two of you already from the other benders. You've spent most of this trip engaged in your own little social drama to the exclusion of actual work. You've helped move things, yes, and Katara thank you for taking care of Squid for us. However, both of you have been acting contrary to your contract. You are not putting in as much effort as you should be, and it's unfair to the other benders. They've done a lot more work than the two of you put together.'

'But Rei!' Katara said, raising her voice. A few of the benders behind them walked past, catching up to Bulok. Katara eyed their glares as they passed and frowned. Her gaze returned to Rei. 'In my defense, I was possessed for a good portion of the trip. And we've only had about of day of proper work to do - how can you judge us on so little?'

Rei put his face in his hands. 'That is besides the point. Your social antics are distracting the other benders from doing their jobs properly, as well as detracting from the spirit of the trip. I'm sorry, girls, but I can no longer allow you to come with us for the final part of the trip. This news of blood bending has really pushed me over the line. That is really unacceptable behavior. You can come and collect your things but once we've made the second trip back don't bother coming back down again.'

Toph looked at the floor and kicked a leaf with her foot. But Katara wasn't finished.

'Why didn't you warn us about poor behavior earlier?' Katara said suddenly, feeling her blood boil. 'We could have done something about it.'

'Katara, you've been psychologically unstable for a decent part of this trip. Do you honestly think you would have taken that news well? Look at yourself. You did blood bending on your friend.'

'But that won't happen again, I swear,' Katara said. 'I promise I've sorted that out.'

Rei held up a hand. 'No more discussion. Come with me. I'll give you girls payment for the work you've done, but only Toph will get a bonus for locating the golem map and a particularly nice vase. Katara, you've done absolutely no searching at all. Please don't attempt to explain your position to me again.'

Katara crossed her arms and scowled, watching Rei walk ahead. Toph turned to Katara and punched her arm particularly hard.

'What was that for?' Katara demanded.

'I can't believe I even need to explain myself,' Toph said. 'Miss _Blood Bender,_ I hope you think about what you did. Maybe you're ready to apologize to me?'

Katara took a deep breath and spoke through gritted teeth. 'It's not my fault you put me in a difficult position! I want to do what's best for you, Toph, and that involves understanding where you're coming from a little better than just "Go out with me. I had a dream that said this was a good idea." I mean, seriously? What kind of reasoning is that?'

'Well, if you weren't sure you could have asked me more about it,' Toph said. 'Did you think of that? No, you thought you'd do your own snooping.'

Katara hung her head and then looked after the group. A light could barely be seen through the trees. 'Okay, Toph. I'm sorry. But... Let's talk while we walk or we'll lose them.'

'I can feel where they're going,' Toph said. 'Let's keep our own pace... And apology accepted.'

The two girls continued to trek through the forest, avoiding tree roots and gopher-rabbit holes where possible.

'Oh yeah,' Toph said. 'There's something I wanted to do.'

Toph suddenly reached towards Katara's collarbone and ripped the pendant off her neck. Toph then opened the pendant and ripped off the glass shield. She held the moon fin in her hand and dangled it over her mouth. Katara rubbed her neck where the necklace had snapped and eyed Toph with wide eyes.

'Toph, that's a _spirit_ fin! It's not an ordinary fish!'

But Toph dropped the fin into her mouth and swallowed it. She burped and patted her tummy, handing the empty necklace back to Katara. Katara held the limp, broken thing in her hand.

'If you get food poisoning, it's not my fault,' Katara said sternly. 'I was going to return that to the Northern Water Tribe.'

Toph shrugged. 'What do you think they would have done with it?'

'I don't know,' Katara admitted. 'Maybe try to merge it with the original spirit?'

'Well, it's gonna merge with me, now!' Toph said.

The two girls resumed their walk through the forest but not before Katara tucked the pendant into a pocket.

'So...' Katara began. 'What was this dream of yours?'

Toph blushed. 'I'll tell you, but don't laugh, okay?'

Katara agreed.

Toph closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. 'Okay, so in the dream we were both sleeping in the crystal city. But when we got out of our tent there was nobody around. We looked everywhere in that city and back by the stairs but couldn't find anybody. Once we had reached the resting spot at the end of the lake we took a break. And then you started to cry...' Toph looked at Katara to gauge her reaction but her face was unchanged. Toph continued. 'You said:

"You can't possibly get us out on your own. It's too far up.'

I felt sad. You seemed so miserable and helpless. And then I said:

"I'll make sure we get out of here. I promise."

And then I kissed you. I felt very close to you, then. And it felt good. I managed to calm you down. And then I woke up.'

Katara smiled faintly, 'I have to admit, Toph, that wasn't what I was expecting.'

'What were you expecting?' the earth bender asked.

Katara shrugged. 'I'm not really sure, but it wasn't that.' Katara paused, thinking for a moment. 'I know you probably want an answer right now. I promise you I will give it to you eventually. I feel like I have a better idea how you feel right now so after some more thinking I promise I'll give you a concrete answer.'

'Is it really such a hard decision to make?' Toph asked. 'I mean, I do like you Katara.'

'I know you do, Toph,' Katara said, realizing it more than ever now she had heard that dream. 'I just-'

But Toph grabbed Katara's arm and pulled her down. Katara's face was now at Toph's level. Katara stared into Toph's eyes with uncertainty, but Toph grabbed the back of Katara's neck and pulled her face toward her own.

Katara wasn't expecting Toph to kiss her so when she did she was a little taken aback. She tried to pull away, but Toph was stronger than she anticipated. She felt Toph's breath on her face and noticed it was very hot. Katara felt very alarmed by that. She pushed Toph off, her face flushed.

'Toph, I'm starting to get the impression you have stronger feelings that you're letting on.'

Toph's once pale cheeks were now very pink. 'Fine, Katara,' Toph said. 'I admit it. That dream woke something up inside of me. Feelings I had never felt before. Feelings I hadn't even felt for Sokka or Zuko. Feelings that make me _want_ you, Katara. I don't... I don't understand it. It's so strong. Why?'

'Toph,' Katara said. 'You told me there was something you thought was missing, which is why you wanted to go out with me. You never said you had these sorts of feelings.'

Toph threw her arms out. 'I was embarrassed. You happy, now?'

Katara reached out and put a hand on Toph's shoulder. 'I understand why you might feel embarrassed, but please don't feel like these are abnormal feelings. Because they're not.'

'I still feel like something is missing, though,' Toph said. 'I mean, I don't understand these feelings. They came to me all at once. Maybe if we go out it'll settle a little. Maybe it'll help clear my head. Maybe then I'll understand what this means for us. Because that's what I'm missing: understanding.' Toph looked up at Katara and frowned. 'I'm sorry I kissed you like that, I just got really frustrated with you. You really don't seem like you understand my feelings.'

'I'm just taken aback, that's all. And... this stuff is new to me as well so don't expect me to be as forward as you,' Katara admitted, and she gave Toph's hand a squeeze. 'But now I understand that you have strong feelings for me. And I want to help you understand them better,' Katara paused, and held Toph's hand tighter. 'I've decided that I'll go out with you, Toph. You're right, I didn't understand your feelings. But now I think maybe they're closer to mine that you might realize.' Katara blushed a little. 'So maybe you'll understand why I hesitated so much. But, at least we both might have a better idea what it means to be in a relationship this way. And... you know, maybe we could make a good couple. Maybe we could be happy together.'

Toph cheered and hugged Katara so tightly she thought her spine might break. 'You're the best, Katara! Thank you for understanding.'

'You're welcome,' Katara said, and hugged Toph back. Suddenly they heard a yell in front of them.

'KATARA! TOPH! ARE YOU GUYS COMING OR WHAT?' It was Bulok, evidently wondering where they were.

'Coming!' Katara called.

The two girls ran through the forest, hand-in-hand, feeling the warm glow of excitement in their chests.

When they met they wouldn't have expected to develop feelings for one another. But now they had they both had a better understanding of who they were and what they were capable of. They wanted to learn more about one another, and experience new things together. And they would. Just as partners this time, not merely friends. Coming out to their friends would be difficult, but as long as they stuck together they would be okay.

_We'll be okay...!_

_End_

* * *

_A/N: What did you think? I wasn't really expecting this to be the last chapter but it kind of turned out that way. I might make a sequel sometime. Not sure. At any rate, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. The end probably seems abrupt, but I really can't imagine dragging the story out much longer. I hope you found Katara and Toph's journey realistic. In some ways both character's experience is based on my own own, so I hope you don't find it on the edge of believability. At any rate, let me know if you have any questions. And constructive criticism is always appreciated, of course._


	12. An important note from the author

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.**

After receiving some very good feedback from one particular user via PM I have decided that I will rewrite this story in the future. Once I've rewritten the bits that need rewriting I will upload the entire thing at once. Note that the first few chapters will likely stay the same.

I have never rewritten a story before like this, so please be patient. I also have a lot going on IRL at the moment, so chapters might not be up immediately and I want to do this properly. Note that based on what I'm thinking of changing, it might feel like a completely different story though the main elements and themes will be the same.

I hope you all continue to stick along. I really want to develop Katara and Toph's feelings correctly and I think (in my enthusiasm maybe) I may have overlooked some important aspects. Your support and patience is appreciated. I hope you consider reading the rewrite when it's available. I will add a notice when the rewrite is available. Also note I put a similar message at the very start of the story.

Regards,

Clockworkscales


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